7 Things You Need to Know If a Loved One Dies Away From Home
If a loved one dies far from home, it may be necessary to arrange transit. Whether your loved one is overseas or somewhere else in the country, it is possible to bring their body back home for burial. Here's what you need to know.
1. Refrigerated Trucks Can Move Bodies
Transit services can move bodies across the country using refrigerated trucks. The refrigeration helps to delay the decomposition process, so it is often possible to do this without embalming the body. The body can be taken from the hospital mortuary to a funeral home in your area.
2. Embalming May Be Necessary for Flights
If you need to arrange to have the body moved a relatively long distance, a flight may be necessary. In those cases, embalming is generally required for health reasons. Similarly, with some long interstate transfers, embalming may also be necessary.
When a body is transported via a flight, you don't have to meet the flight. Rather, the transit service meets the funeral director of your choice at the airport.
3. You Can Plan the Funeral or Burial in Another Area
If your loved one has died in Australia, you could opt to work with a funeral home in that area. They could arrange the funeral service as well as burial in that area. Then, you and other family members could travel to that area for the funeral.
4. It Is Possible To Move Bodies After Burial
Although it is also expensive, it is possible to move a body after burial. To explain, imagine you arranged for a loved one's burial in another area. However, a few years down the road, you decide you want to bring your loved one back home. In these cases, it is possible to get the tomb exhumed and have the coffin moved to another cemetery.
5. Transporting Ashes Is Easier
If you decide that paying to transport your loved one's body is too expensive or if you decide against it for any other reason, you may want to opt for cremation. You can work with a funeral home or direct cremation facility in the place of death. Then, you can arrange to have the ashes transported to you.
6. You Can Mail Ashes
You can have a transit company handle the transport of the ashes, but you can also ask the crematorium to send them to you in the mail. It is legal to transport human cremation in the Australian Post.
7. A Funeral Director Can Help
Losing a loved one is extremely difficult. So that you don't have to deal with the details of transporting the body, arranging burial or anything else on your own, you may want to contact a funeral director. They can help you through the process.