Retrieval and Transportation of Mortal remains from Finland to India

1. Documentation needed by the Indian Embassy

• Passport of the Deceased person (To be cancelled by Indian Embassy)
• Burial Letter (Death Certificate from Hospital is not the must since Finland takes longer time (several weeks to give a death certificate) - Provided by the Hospital
• Hygiene certificate - Provided by the Hospital
• Application for the Death certificate (to be filled by a representative of the deceased person)

2. Documentation needed by the funeral home

• Passport of the Deceased person (To be cancelled by Indian Embassy)
• Burial Letter (Death Certificate is not the must since Finland takes longer time (several weeks to give a death certificate) - Provided by the Hospital
• Hygiene certificate - Provided by the Hospital
• Transportation letter for Mortal remains- Provided by Indian Embassy
• Death Certificate - Provided by Indian Embassy

Step 1: 

Cause of death investigation - Local Police 

If the cause of death for the deceased is unnatural, the local police take over the case and after the investigation is completed, they contact the National Bureau of Investigation who then will take the official message of death to the Indian authorities. Lead time depends on the investigation etc., ETA - Between 3 days to a week to contact Indian Embassy. Police authorities gives OK to the hospital to release the mortal remains,

Note: Family members shall not escalate Indian Embassy or other authorities in India to reach out the local Police because it does not help. Local police will follow their own process and perform the due diligence before reaching out to the family and Indian Embassy.

Step 2: 

Retrieving the deceased person from the hospital

Family members need to arrange the retrieval of the deceased person from the mortuary of the Hospital. After the deceased person has passed way, the family members should contact a funeral home as soon as possible. The funeral home will help with practical matters related to retrieval.

If the cause of death is clear, an autopsy to determine the cause of death will not be performed. In such cases, the deceased person can generally be retrieved already on the following day after the death.

If the cause of death is going to be investigated with a medical or forensic autopsy, the retrieval is delayed by a few days.

Forensic autopsy

A medical examiner writes the death certificate after a forensic autopsy. If the writing of the death certificate is delayed due to investigations, the medical examiner will first write a burial permission.

The burial permission is given to an employee of the funeral home that retrieves the deceased person from the morgue. Upon request, family members may receive a copy of the death certificate from the police, who together with the medical examiner determines whether a forensic cause of death investigation is necessary.

Step 4: Transporting the mortal remains 

After necessary documentation has been prepared by the Funeral home, the funeral home reserves the ticket from the Airline company and sends the documentation via the Airline company to the Indian Authorities (Chennai Airport).

The transportation of the mortal remains can be done only when an 'OK2FWD' message is received to the Airline company from the receiving Airport.

Funeral home takes the mortal remains to the sending Airport and checks in the remains with the Airline company. Once its accepted, the tracking of the cargo shipment is shared with the family/representative of the family.