Abdullah Al-Thibyani Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – Workers in charge of washing bodies before they are buried were surprised when they noticed signs of decomposition on the corpse of a 60-year-old man while it was inside a Makkah public hospital's morgue. They had to stop washing the body as a result pending an investigation. The old man died last Friday inside the Grand Mosque and his body placed inside the morgue of a public hospital in Makkah to allow his family to complete all necessary measures and obtain a burial permit. Okaz/Saudi Gazette contacted the hospital's director and the Makkah Health Affairs' spokesman Fawaz Al-Sheikh for a comment but did not receive a response. Makkah Police acting spokesman Lt. Col. Zaki Al-Ruhaili said an investigation was opened to find out how the corpse decomposed while inside the morgue. However, initial reports showed that this might have occurred because the body remained undiscovered for two days inside the Grand Mosque's courtyards' toilets. One of the workers inside the funeral home, where the old man's body was being washed, said this was not the first time they were asked to wash a slightly decomposed body that was brought from the morgue. They called upon local authorities to inspect the public hospital's morgue and all other morgues in Makkah. The man's eldest son said his father went to the Grand Mosque a few days ago to perform prayer and never came back home. They reported him missing to the police and searched many hospitals to no avail. Last Friday, they received a call from a Grand Mosque police officer who told them that the man was found inside the outdoor toilets. Medical examinations showed that he died of natural causes.
