Desperation began to strike Marleen Raaijmakers from Etten-Leur. On September 13, her father Edgar (58) died of cardiac arrest while on holiday with his wife in North Macedonia. His relatives in the Netherlands had to wait for weeks for his remains to return. But on Monday morning there was finally the redeeming phone call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: her father’s body is being flown home. “Finally!” Marleen exclaims with relief.
A huge relief for the family from Etten-Leur. “After exactly five weeks, the plane with Edgar will land at Schiphol on Wednesday.” Mother Hedwig (63) immediately rushed to Marleen’s house. “My mother came to us in tears. It was a bit of a release. Then we all sat down quietly for a while. Finally, after exactly five weeks, he is coming home. That is very nice. Hopefully we can finally closing it now.”
For weeks the relatives waited for news about the body of ‘their’ Edgar. After his death, his body had to remain in North Macedonia for an autopsy. “He fell to his death against a cupboard in the hotel room. As a result, he had a wound on his head. That’s why a doctor insisted that an autopsy be done,” said Marleen.
On Sunday morning the redeeming phone call came from Nederland Wereld, part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It’s done. He’ll be home on Wednesday, they said,” says Marleen. “The documents were finally in order and the inspection was completed. The box can be sealed for transport.”
“He was in a degrading condition.”
After three weeks, the family rushed to the capital Skopje to see Edgar before the autopsy took place. “He was in a degrading condition,” she said last week. “In a dirty white van, without a coffin, wrapped in the same dirty fleece blankets and towels as in the hotel four weeks ago.”
Despite all the sadness, Marleen is mainly relieved. But she still doesn’t understand why it had to take so long. “It’s nice that we have now reached the next step. How can it suddenly be this way now and not a week earlier? I wouldn’t dare tell you. We hope that Edgar can be taken immediately from Schiphol. Then he will go to the funeral home.”
Marleen’s message remains the same: “I really hope that from now on the Dutch embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not let relatives call everyone themselves. That they will keep people better informed in these types of cases.”
Daughter Marleen tearfully told us last week how they have been sent from pillar to post for weeks:
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