Liberian morticians held over missing corpse in Onitsha

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Anambra, Headlines, State News Saturday, May 19th, 2012

There was palpable tension on Friday in the commercial city of Onitsha over the disappearance of the corpse of a 42-year old woman, Eunice Azala, from a mortuary, one month after it was deposited.
Two Liberian morticians attached to the Bex hospital Awada, where the incident took place have been arrested by policemen attached to Awada Police Division and are helping the police to unravel the circumstances surrounding the corpse disappearance.
The Nation gathered that the deceased, late Mrs. Azala, who hailed from Umuezeala in Nneato autonomous community in Orlu local government area of Imo State, took ill and was rushed to Bex hospital within the city where she was confirmed dead.
According to the husband of the deceased, Mr. Nelson Azala, his wife’s health started deteriorating and was rushed to the hospital on April 17 where she was admitted and later confirmed dead by the doctor.
The bereaved husband while narrating the incident to the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Awada Police Station, Mr. Emeka Ugwu, said when his wife was confirmed dead the family wanted to take her corpse to their home town but was persuaded by the doctor to deposit the body in the mortuary within the hospital.
“My wife just graduated from the university last year, her condition became so bad sometime in April that she fainted one day and we took her to the hospital. But the doctor insisted that we should get a card and fulfill every requirement to seek for medication which we did.
“He examined her and confirmed her dead. We decided to take her body home but the doctor told us that it would be easier here since they have a mortuary and we decided to deposit her corpse in the mortuary,” Mr. Azala said.
He further disclosed that to the chagrin of the members of his community who had converged in the hospital mortuary to collect the corpse, it was discovered missing. He added that the mortuary attendant was busy showing them a different corpse.
“After we deposited the corpse and signed all the necessary documents, the mortician gave us a copy of the document that should permit us to see her body. But during the two times my brother visited, he was given one excuse or the other till we found out that my wife’s corpse has been removed. All the marks and everything I used to recognize my wife were not in the corpse he showed us.”

-The Nationwp_posts