Panaji, Mar 4 (IANS): Two dead bodies, probably of Nigerians, have become a ‘headache’ for the morgue of the coastal state as they have been preserved since 2016 and 2019, respectively.

Recently two morgues (North and South) in Goa got breathing space after 75 dead bodies were disposed of. However, a morgue in North Goa has been waiting for a procedure to vacate two compartments occupied by foreigners for the last many years.

Sources in Goa Medical College informed that there were around 72 dead bodies in North and 32 in South Goa’s morgue facility, of which around 58 and 17 respectively were disposed of recently after the intervention of district collectors.

“After the recent disposal, in GMC we have 14 dead bodies, while 15 dead bodies are in South Goa District Hospital. From our side we keep informing the concerned authorities, that we are only custodians of these dead bodies, formalities have to be done by the collector's office to dispose of these bodies,” a senior doctor from GMC said.

“There are two dead bodies of foreigners, who had died in prison in 2016 and 2019, respectively. I don’t know why there is a delay in contacting their embassies and handing over the bodies to families. IGP Prisons has to take cognizance of the matter and should expedite the process,” the doctor further said.

Sources said that these dead bodies are of Nigerians, who used false passports to enter India, now become a problem even for police to trace their contacts.

“One dead body was preserved on December 21, 2016 and another on January 1, 2019. Both probably were from Nigeria. Such dead bodies become a headache for us,” the doctor further said.

Talking to IANS, IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi, said that these dead bodies have been identified and the police are in the process of handover these bodies to their families.

“We have already sent the ‘No Objection Certificate’ to the Collector. They have to do the further process. If their embassy doesn’t accept the dead bodies then after sending three reminders, we will write to them that we will dispose of these corpses,” Bishnoi said, adding the reminders were sent via the Ministry of Home Affairs.