The mission’s second secretary, Pratik Karki, said anxious family members in Nepal were constantly calling the embassy to find out when the bodies of their loved ones would be sent back.
He told FMT the embassy managed to send back 19 bodies last week after a 45-day wait, thanks to Nepal Airlines, which sent a wide-bodied aircraft as part of its corporate social responsibility to take the deceased back.
There are still 24 bodies lying in the mortuaries. Karki said they had been there for more than a month now.
“While there does not seem to be any commitment from the airlines to offer space for coffins, the possibility of more deaths is there,” he said.
Karki said he feared the queue would get longer with no end in sight in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last year alone, 275 Nepali workers died in Malaysia.
Himalaya Airlines allows two coffins on one of its flights. The only other airline that operates flights out of Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu is Malindo Air, which Pratik said had stopped transporting coffins.
He said the embassy was hoping Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia would step in to organise special flights as a favour to the workers.
“Our workers helped build roads, buildings, cleaned toilets and kept Malaysians safe by being their security guards,” he said. “So we are asking for some help from these airlines in return.
“Of course, we have been pushing for more airlines to help us with the repatriation as we sympathise with the families who have lost their loved ones.”
Karki said the workers died from various causes. Five of them succumbed to Covid-19 and had their last rites performed here.
According to the embassy’s records, there were 298,000 Nepali workers in Malaysia as of last year but 40,000 of them left for good with no replacement because of Covid-19.
Karki said employers would cover some of the costs incurred in sending the bodies home, including the airfare, since they could claim compensation from Socso.
Undertakers’ charges are borne by the families, donors and sometimes employers.
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