FWD: Letter from the authority in charge of exhumation in Australia

Trygve,

My name is Peter Gamble from the Cemeteries and Crematoria Section of the
Victorian Department of Human Services (Australia).
I have contacted you to follow up a request that the unit has received from
a Ms Elizabeth Kostadinova for an exhumation licence to permit her father-
the late Mr Dim Tar Kostadinova, to be exhumed from Fawkner Cemetery,
Victoria and transported to Norway.

One of the duties of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Section is to issue
licenses for exhumation, and provide clearance for Funeral Directors to
remove bodies from the state of Victoria. At present we are somewhat
cautious about granting a license for the exhumation of the late Mr. Dim
Tar Kostadinova given that Ms Kostadinova has approached us seeking such a
license on a variety of occasions and for a range scenarios:

1) Exhumation and removal of body to America,
2) Exhumation for family viewing of the body,
3) Exhumation for re-interment of body at residential premises,
4) Exhumation and removal of body to Norwegian Cryonic facility.

Given the variability in the nature of the requests we have received, we
would like to be quite sure that the Kostadinova family is fully prepared
to commit themselves to the arrangement with Life-Extension Systems
(Norway) before an exhumation license is granted. The present holder of
the right of burial for the late Mr Kostadinova is Mrs. Kostadinova. It is
unclear at this time whether she, and her other daughter have consented to
the arrangement; such consent being legally required before a license can
be granted.

Owing to the unusual nature of the request, we are seeking confirmation
about the arrangements from all parties concerned. Obviously we would like
to avoid any situation where assisting Funeral Directors, airline shipment
services, the Norwegian government, Life-Extension Systems (Norway) or any
others party are inconvenienced by illegal or uncoordinated transfer
processes, or insufficient resolve (financial or otherwise) from the
Kostadinova family.

From some faxes sent to the unit by Ms Kostadinova it is our understanding
that the services offered by Life-Extension Systems are in relation to
storing frozen human biological material, specifically cell samples, tissue
samples, blood samples, organs and bodies for research, cryonic and other
purposes. The documents also indicated that Life-Extension Systems
(Norway) as yet do not have a capacity to receive and store the remains of
Mr. Kostadinova. I would be most appreciative if you could forward to me
some more details of exactly what facilities exist at present and of any
appropriate business details held by Life-Extension Systems (Norway)
pertaining to the cryonic storage of bodies. These details and other
business bona-fides will be confirmed with Norwegian Consular officials in
Australia.
If you have copies of materials that require postage, please send to the
following address:

Manager
Cemeteries & Crematoria Unit
GPO Box 1670N
Melbourne 3001
AUSTRALIA


Be advised that the late Mr Dim Tar Kostadinova has been buried in Fawkner
Cemetery, Victoria for the past 4-5 months. We are unsure about the extent
of the embalming that took place prior to interment, however given that the
soil in Fawkner tends to be rather wet and muddy, there is every chance
that the condition of the remains will not be good. You may wish to
reconfirm with Ms Kostadinova whether the services you are offering are
appropriate to human remains in moderate to advanced states of
decomposition.


Peter Gamble
Cemeteries & Crematoria