Deaths
abroad | | Trevor
Lakin grieves following the death of a relative abroad |
Death
in a foreign land. The upset is often made worse by insensitive bureaucracy
Cheap
travel has made the world a much smaller place - more and more of us are leaving
our region behind to travel to ever more exotic destinations.
The Foreign
Office tells us which places are safe to go to and there are British High Commissions
around the world.
But tragedy, and now terrorism, can strike anywhere
and families of victims can be left feeling very alone.
As many as
4,000 people from this country die overseas every year but if it happened to you,
who do you turn to, who do you contact, what help can you expect to get? Inside
Out talks to three parents, all of whom lost children abroad in very different
circumstances, including a couple who lost their son in the terrorist bomb attacks
in Egypt. The families are all critical of the help they were given. For
all of them their appalling grief was intensified because the death happened abroad
and not at home. Greek tragedy Lynne Morgan's 11-year-old daughter
Laura drowned while on a sailing holiday in Greece two and a half years ago.
It was utterly devastating.  | | Support
from back home but is it enough? |
The Greek authorities took
some of the holiday company staff to court聟 no one thought to tell Lynne
back home about the court case. "Why didn't they tell me about it聟I'm
the mother of the deceased?" was Lynne's reaction. A lack of communication
between countries is a huge problem but does our government do enough to keep
grieving relatives informed about what's happening abroad. 'No', say the
families we talked to. Lynne has since returned to Greece, where she's now
involved in the court case. She'll be back again in March but no one funds
these journeys聟 and each time she goes back the memories are harrowing. The
court case could rumble on for years. Egyptian nightmare Jeremy
Lakin was from Lincolnshire but lived and worked in London. Spooked by the London
bombings last summer, he and his girlfriend decided to go on holiday.  | | Holiday
horror - the Egyptian bombings c/o Associated Press |
They chose
Sharm El Sheik, and were among the 11 people killed in the bombings in Egypt.
His family back home in Lincolnshire were shattered by his death. They
went out to Egypt but claim they failed to get accurate information from the Foreign
Office. Father Trevor Lakin tells Inside Out that they were given misinformation
and this frustration intensified their grief. It took weeks to get Jeremy's
body back. His family couldn't claim any compensation and their insurance didn't
cover terror attacks. They have decried the Foreign Office's handling of
the families as atrocious. Sour adventure Roger Forryan was
a young adventurer. He was travelling the world with his sister. It ended
abruptly when he was stabbed to death in Chile. Again his family back home felt
they go no support, and no help from the government to find out what was happening
back in Chile. They finally discovered there had been a court case for
the murder of their son, but they hadn't been told about it. Inside Out
talks to Sheila Forryan, Roger's mother who lives in Leicester. Shocking
facts also from the Coroner Dr Nigel Chapman. He says that you can't under estimate
the trauma for families when a death happens abroad. He's had cases when
bodies have been flown back with their organs missing and in some cases the wrong
bodies have been flown back. Communication between countries can be very
very difficult, he says. Links relating to this story:The
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听听Inside
Out - East Midlands: Monday January 9, 2006
