Udaipur:Family members of an Indian migrant from Rajasthan, who died COVID-19 in Abu Dhabi, held a symbolic cremation.
An expatriate from Rajasthan's Udaipur district succumbed to COVID-19 at a hospital in the capital of Uunited Arab Emirated where he was working for the past 15 years..
The deceased- Ramesh Patel a resident of Kherwara area of the district was working in the gulf country to earn a living for him and his family.
Due to lockdown, his body could not be flown away back to India, so the authorities in the gulf country performed the final rites and buried his body in Abu Dhabi after taking permission from the family members.
Back here, his family members were heartbroken after hearing about his demise. Saddened for not getting a chance to hold Patel's funeral in his own country, kin of the deceased decided to make an effigy and cremate it according to the Hindu customs, so that his soul rests in peace.
The family members held a symbolic funeral. They made Patel's effigy using his clothes and kept a photograph in place of his head. The dummy was then taken to cremation ground where rituals were held properly.
The majority of the 166 deaths and 26,600 registered cases in Gulf countries so far have been foreigners, according to health ministries, most of them from Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines.
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