Find a funeral home
While the list of funeral homes in Taiwan was helpful, Mr Ng also needed to find a funeral home in Singapore that was familiar with repatriating bodies from Taiwan.
He planned to call each Taiwanese funeral home on the list and ask when was the last time they had handled a similar case that required them to contact a Singaporean funeral home. He would then ask the latter to contact him, he reasoned.
The only hurdle? Mr. Ng needed a Taiwanese phone number. The alternative was to pay roaming charges on the Singapore number.
However, SIM cards can only be purchased at mail-order stores in Taiwan with certain forms of identification, such as a passport, and since the day had already ended, the family said it was “a race against time” to call the funeral home. ‘ he explained.
“Waiting until the next day to apply for a SIM card could have significant ramifications and delay the entire repatriation process,” he said.
“A lot of these details you don’t know until you get there. We also tried checking with the hotel to see if they had a working phone. They said no, but what we can do is call the phone outside the convenience store. I said my goal was to buy a phone card to use at a public phone in .
Eventually, a Taiwanese friend of the family stepped in to help.
Mr. Ng eventually found a funeral home in Taiwan that was affiliated with a funeral home in Singapore, and appointed them both.
“(Both funeral homes) were in touch with each other…but the Singapore funeral home was very accommodating and kept me updated with updates from the Taiwanese side. Luckily for us. “The deal worked out well. It would have been different if I hadn’t felt comfortable having the Singapore side deal with it[on our behalf],” he said.
Family members are typically required to identify the deceased as next of kin and sign official documents such as death certificates, but funeral directors may be required to confirm the identity of the deceased as the next of kin and sign official documents such as death certificates, but “practices may vary from country to country,” so funeral directors may not be able to assist overseas. The executive director said he could assist with the process. Funeral Directors Association (Singapore) Hoo Hung Chye.
They also work closely with families, paying attention to details such as religious ceremonies and causes of death, and “mourning the deceased in the most dignified manner according to (their) wishes,” Fu told CNA. Told.
“Families must decide on and direct the final disposition of the body, including cremation or burial abroad, cremation and repatriation of the remains, or repatriation of the whole body.
“Funeral directors will be able to give you the best advice and options available to you. Depending on how remote and accessible[the place of death]is, different means of transportation will all be considered.”
flying home
To bring the body back to Singapore, the family must first obtain a coffin (import) permit, which can be applied for through the National Environment Agency’s online portal. This procedure can be carried out by a designated funeral director in Singapore.
“The process of repatriating bodies to Singapore is similar to importing or exporting anything to Singapore, only it’s not goods or livestock. It’s corpses,” Mr Ng said. .
His father-in-law’s body was taken to Singapore in the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft. He told CNA that the flight tickets were secured by a Taiwanese funeral home.
They also needed to prove that the bodies were embalmed and underwent the necessary quarantine and infection tests before leaving Taiwan. For example, if the deceased had an infectious disease, the body must be cremated.
Once the body arrived in Singapore, it was picked up by a local funeral home designated by Mr Ng.
His family initially asked if they could fly home on the same flight.
“We were worried that his soul would still be stranded in Taiwan. So we wondered if we could get someone to accompany him. But he was in the cargo area, so we We couldn’t do that,” Ng said.
“Even if someone were to return to the plane with them, they would be in the regular cabin.”