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If a death should occur while travelling or on holiday, dealing with bureaucracy can make the situation even worse. Holiday Which? offers advice on how best to deal with the situation.

Travelling abroad is statistically very safe, but of course, deaths do occasionally happen. Of the 60 million foreign trips made by British nationals each year*, 2,000 deaths are reported**. It is estimated a third are due to natural causes and the rest are caused by accidents and criminal acts.

Dealing with a death abroad should be straightforward for relatives if the deceased was on a package holiday. Under the ABTA code of conduct, tour operators have a duty of care to help customers in this situation.

For independent travellers the first port of call is the nearest British Embassy or consulate, which should be able to provide help and advice.

Holiday Which? offers some tips in the unlikely event of a tragedy abroad:

* Make sure you take out a travel insurance policy that includes adequate repatriation, as related costs can run into thousands of pounds.

* If you are on a package holiday, let the tour operator do as much as possible on your behalf.

* Never sign anything unless it is crystal clear what it means - particularly if it is in a foreign language.

* Chase up the insurance company - the insurer will employ a foreign funeral director on your behalf.

* If the insurance does not cover repatriation, try to use a reputable agency. It will help to reduce the stress as the bureaucracy involved in arranging everything yourself is potentially overwhelming.

(Holiday Which)

Concorde

I wish that this never ever happens to me. It's hard enough when it happens in your every day life without having to go through it when you are afr from home on a vacation.
My dad dies when travelling to australia a few years ago, they found him in a motel room 3 days after it happened (terrible way to die for a start) and they it took us 10 months before recieving his ashes in the mail. It was unreal!

natasha

One day when i was off to Bombai, during the flight one of the passengers only a few seats away had a heart attack.It was very sad because he died very quickly and nobody managed to bring him back, he was quite young and was travelling with his wife and their toddler, apparantly they were on their way back home from what i got. It realy affected everyone that day i think

amoroso

My grandfather died during our holidays down the south of france 5 years ago from a heart attack. It happened 2 days before the end of the holidays and he actually had just spent 2 great weeks doing a lot of stuff that he didn't do usualy. In a way we were happy to see him die that way than alone at home watching tv...we know he dies happy!

iluvmorocco

I agree about obtaining travel insurance.... will save your family more money and there will less hassles.