District admins perform last rites of 2 who died in Japan

Bhubaneswar: Family members of two youths, who died in Japan, were denied permission to perform their last rites by the district administrations of Balasore and Jajpur due to coronavirus fear. Instead, the funerals were performed on Sunday by two teams of medical staff from the district headquarters hospitals.
Sources said Sheikh Mantaz, a resident of Bhograi block in Balasore, and Sheikh Baruddin, from Jajpur’s Barchana block, who were working in a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, died due to asphyxiation on January 29. Their bodies were brought in a special box from Tokyo to Kolkata and from there to Bhubaneswar airport.
“Since the body was brought from another country, we convinced the family not to touch the body and they agreed. We provided all protection like masks, gloves and dress to four persons from the village who helped in the burial,” said Dr Banarjee Prasad Chhotray, CDMO, Balasore.
“The burial was done in the presence of police and health officials,” said Barchana BDO, Ajit Narayan Prasad Giri.