Airport staff confiscated a man’s ashes because his husband wasn’t recognized as next of kin
Brace yourself for the saddest story I have heard in a long time.
Marco Bulmer-Rizzi and David Bulmer-Rizzi got married earlier this year in England and went on their honeymoon to Australia. Tragically, David died during their honeymoon after falling down a flight of stairs. Because Australia doesn’t recognize marriage equality, David’s death certificate lists him as never married.
Marco traveled back from Australia with his husband’s ashes and had to fly through Hong Kong. That’s where airport officials confiscated David’s ashes, claiming that because Marco wasn’t recognized on David’s death certificate, he was not David’s next of kin.
Eventually, David’s ashes were returned to Marco at the airport, but not before a series of hard and traumatizing conversations. Marco has filed a complaint, and a security official for the airport said they couldn’t find records of this case.
At the stopover in Hong Kong – where same-sex marriage is not legal – security officials spotted the ashes as they went through the X-ray scanner, prompting a guard to apprehend him.
“I was taken to one side and she said, ‘What’s in this box?’” he told BuzzFeed News. “She wanted to open the box. And I said, ‘These are human remains. It’s my husband. My husband died while we were in Australia. She just looked at me and said, ‘I need to take this away.’” But before taking the container, the guard inquired again about the identity of the deceased.
“She said, ‘Who did you say died?” And I said, ‘My husband. And this is his passport.’ And she said, ‘No. I’m gonna take this [the ashes] away.’”
Bulmer-Rizzi, who was still in shock from the sudden loss of his husband a week earlier, said that when the security guard removed the ashes he had a “meltdown”.
“I put my hand down [on the box] and said, ‘No, you can’t. I need to see your supervisor.’” The official’s manager arrived to find Bulmer-Rizzi in a state of distress, trying to stop what was left of his husband from being taken from him.
“I felt like I was losing him again,” he said, adding: “All I wanted was to be able to travel with David’s ashes on me so he wouldn’t have to travel back by himself.”
Don’t you ever tell me that marriage equality doesn’t mean anything.