British tourists spark health alert in Turkey after wading into the sea to scatter dead relative's ashes
15 May 2024, 10:35 | Updated: 15 May 2024, 10:38
A group of British tourists have triggered a health alert at a holiday resort after wading into the sea to scatter a dead relative’s ashes.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
An investigation has been launched after the tourists visited Uzunyalı beach in Marmaris with the hope of sprinkling their late family member’s ashes into the waters there.
The deceased had lost their life at sea - and the beach in question is understood to have been one of their favourite places. Turkish health officials took water samples after the ceremony on Monday, the MailOnline reports.
Cremation is not legal in Turkey and the country has restrictions on bringing ashes into the country. If a British person dies in Turkey, local funeral directors can arrange a burial in line with local customs or the bereaved can arrange for the repatriation of the body.
In 2022 a Turkish man was accidentally cremated in a hospital in Hannover.
The family of Turkish citizen Abdülkadir Sargın discovered the person in the coffin was a complete stranger. Mr Sargın had died from a brain hemorrhage at the MHH hospital in Hannover at the age of 71.
His body was to be transported to a funeral company for an Islamic burial, upon the family's request.
An intern at the hospital's morgue admitted to having made a mistake and mixing up the bodies, according to the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper.
The family raised concerns about why the body had been cremated so soon after his death, and local police launched an investigation.
