– Outraged family members condemn decomposed state of dead loved one
– Blame parlour for negligence
FAMILY members who were forced to bury the decomposing corpse of a loved one are calling on the Region Two Administration and newly formed committee of the Suddie Funeral Home on the Essequibo Coast to urgently investigate the reasons why their loved one was left to decay.

Reports reaching Guyana Chronicle said the family of Omadia  Sukhan, who died on Wednesday 12th August, 2009 around 22:00 hrs, received a telephone call on Friday 14th August, 2009 to urgently visit the funeral home where the body was being kept.  

A source close to this newspaper informed that to the family’s surprise, when they arrived at the parlour, they found their loved one in a decomposing state and could only be kept at the parlour until 13:00 hrs that day.

The source further informed that there was a power outage on the Essequibo Coast on Thursday 13th August, 2009 and it appears that the standby generator wasn’t turned on by the personnel in charge who it appears also neglected to turn on the freezer when power was restored later-on in the day.

Further reports indicated that it appears that there were no freezing on the body since it was taken to the funeral home by a hearse the day before (Thursday) in a good state.

“Dem cut de chain link fence at the back of the parlour and carry de body, me grandmother gah bury behind the parlour’’ said a grieving grandson who didn’t want his name to be mentioned.

Another source informed this newspaper that the family had to pay $12,000 to have the body kept at the parlour and $15,000 for the site dug for the burial.

The Guyana Chronicle was further informed that the family had planned to bury their dead later in the week since they were expecting family and friends from overseas and they wanted to give their loved one a proper funeral according to the rites of their religion but because of (alleged) negligence, they couldn’t have done any as planned.

Guyana Chronicle also tried to make contact with personnel from the Regional Administration and the newly formed Management Committee for the Funeral Parlour but all those proved futile due to problems with the landline telephone system on the Essequibo Coast.