Body repatriation from Russia to Sweden
The death of a person is always associated with a many concerns and expenses. Death abroad is a way worse in this sense. Nevertheless, repatriation of the body or remains across the border is a regulated procedure with well-established rules for it depending on the country. To know these rules means a person can organize the posthumous transportation in the best way, avoiding unnecessary costs and saving time. This article is about how postmortem repatriation from Russia to Sweden is carried out.
Contact the consulate
The first step in this process is always the same regardless of the country: in case a Swedish citizen dies, the first thing you should do is contact the Swedish consulate. There are two offices in Russia - one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg. Remember, consulates and embassies do not help their fellow citizens financially in the repatriation of the deceased, but you can count on them for information support: if at any stage you forget what you should do in connection with repatriation and what documents to collect, the consulate should tell you. Moreover, many of these documents, necessary for transporting a body across the border, are actually prepared at the embassy. Also, the embassy will be obliged to inform the relatives in Sweden about the death of a person, and they can keep some personal belongings of the deceased in order to pass them over to the relatives later.
Contact the insurer
The next step is to contact the insurance company. Entering the Russian Federation, every foreign national has to have an insurance policy for the entire period of stay. If it is not in print, you can find it in the deceased person's email, personal computer, or mobile device. When the policy is at hand, you should contact the insurance company as soon as possible and request a repatriation commitment. Remember that the insurer can only provide services or reimburse you for your expenses up to the insured sum specified in the policy. The insurer can hire a funeral agency and help organize other relevant steps.
Choosing a way to bring the body back home
There are several ways to transport the remains of the deceased across the border: by car, train, plane, ship, etc. However, if you need to transport it from Russia to Sweden, we recommend a plane, as it is the only way to transport the body quickly, crossing only one interstate border. According to international regulations, transportation by air is possible in two ways. Either you carry the body in a zinc liner and a coffin, or you cremate the body and carry the ashes in an urn permeable to X-rays. You should mind that airport security has no right to open funerary urns, so if they cannot "X-ray" it, they will have to deny you entry to the airport.
Another important issue concerns the choice of airline. Usually, there is no information about the body repatriation rules on the airliners' websites. Actually, they do provide such services. Therefore, you have to contact the airline by phone to find it out. They will tell you whether you need to place the urn in the luggage compartment or you can carry it as carry-on luggage. They will also inform you about the cost of transportation and any other specific requirements about transporting the remains. These requirements may vary from company to company.
Transporting a body in a coffin is always more complicated and expensive than transporting an urn. In the absence of religious prohibitions, the second option is considered the most preferable.
To transport the deceased across the border, you will need to obtain a set of documents. Collecting it may take up to several weeks, and you may need to pay additional costs for storage of the body in the morgue as the standard free period of storage of bodies in all Russian morgues is seven days. Here is a list of documents you will need for transporting a body by coffin via airplane:
- Medical certificate of death from the morgue.
- Stamped (state) death certificate from the State Registrar Service.
- Permission for transportation of remains from State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service.
- Certificate of absence of extraneous objects in the coffin from the company hired to transport the remains.
- Certificate of sealing a zinc coffin from the shipping company.
- Embalming certificate issued by the morgue.
You will need to apostille these documents, translate them into Swedish, and have them notarized. The embassy can help you with translation. The cost of transportation will depend on various factors. On average to transport remains in an urn will be cheaper than shipping a coffin. Expenses will also depend on the distance of the deceased's location from the departure airport, the weight of the coffin/urn, the destination, the cost of embalming and other procedures to prepare the body, and the cost of various kinds of ritual accessories.
Arrange a meeting at the airport of arrival in Sweden
Finally, you need to hire a funeral company in Sweden that will provide funeral services in Sweden. It will send their agent to meet you with a hearse transport.
Ritual.ru - assistance in posthumous repatriation to Sweden
Ritual.ru has many years of experience in conducting funerals and arranging posthumous repatriation to many countries. We also have the official status of a funeral city service, which allows us to repatriate remains as quickly as possible. You can call us at +7 (495) 100-3-100 to get instructions on how to go on in organizing the repatriation from Russia to Sweden. We will help you arrange it seamlessly to guarantee delivery of a coffin or an urn back home. Our service is available 24 hours a day.
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