Visitant turns Goa morgue resident

Visitant turns Goa morgue resident
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: Remember Steven Speilberg’s The Terminal? And Viktor Navorski’s predicament when he realises he’s been stranded in NYC’s JFK airport with a passport from nowhere as his homeland in Eastern Europe has erupted in a fiery coup while he was in the air en route to America?
Kirlov Sergiy’s fate is somewhat similar. Born in the erstwhile USSR, he identified himself as a Russian when he arrived in Goa in the summer of 2006. The 60-year-old stayed at Arambol, Pernem, for a few months before he committed suicide on August 8, 2006. That’s when the trouble began. With his passport missing, the police relied on Sergiy’s notebook and ‘C’ form (which is filled up while renting a room) to establish his nationality and subsequently approached the Russian authorities. But the Russians refused to have anything to do with the matter, saying Sergiy was not one of their citizens. Only recently, the police stumbled upon his passport and realised that Sergiy was from Odeca in Ukraine. Although the victim liked to call himself Russian, that country had stopped recognising his nationality after Ukraine attained independence in 1991.
“We have established his identity and are awaiting intimation from the home department for body disposal,” said North Goa SP Bosco George. Though his file was moved in December ’07, Sergyi’s body remains lodged at GMC’s crowded morgue.
Till the authorities take a call on the matter, the visitor will remain a resident of the GMC morgue.

2008 May 13 Times Of India Mumbai