Abdülkadir Sargın's family is seeking answers about why his body was cremated in Germany and how a hospital in Hannover mixed up two dead bodies.
Sargın, a Turkish citizen, died in the emergency ward of the Hannover Medical School Hospital last week, officials said.
During the funeral preparations on Tuesday, Sargın’s family members were shocked and confused when they saw that the person in the coffin was a complete stranger. After calling the hospital, they were informed that the staff had mistakenly handed over his body to another family and that he was cremated. Cremation is not permitted in the Islamic tradition and it is as a desecration of the deceased.
Sargın's nephew Barış Sargın told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Friday that the cremation procedures usually take three weeks and now they expect an explanation from authorities why his uncle was cremated "in just two days."
"They have to ease our suspicions," he said.
Sargın died of a brain hemorrhage at MHH hospital in Hannover. The 71-year-old man's body was then transported to a funeral company for an Islamic burial, upon the family's request.
But his son Kerem saw it was not his father when the body was taken to be washed (an Islamic ritual) and contacted the hospital. An intern working at the hospital's morgue admitted that she made a mistake and mixed up bodies.
"We immediately contacted other officials and discovered that my uncle's body was cremated within two days of his death," Sargın said.
"We are really curious why they rushed to cremate his body. I wonder what they are hiding from us," Sargın added.
He said officials offered to give his uncle's ashes to the family, but they refused. "How can we be certain that if it is indeed his ashes?" he said.
Sargın said the family was contacted by the Turkish consulate and the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Turkish officials promised to follow up on the incident and the consulate will provide a lawyer for the family. He said German police also launched an investigation into the mix-up.
