Abuja — The Chinese government has warned that after December 15, all unclaimed corpses of Nigerians in various mortuaries in the country will be cremated.

The warning followed, several appeals to families of the deceased to make arrangements to claim the corpses for burial in Nigeria. A statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Abuja signed by Ahmed Adamu said there are 21 unclaimed corpses of Nigerians who died of various ailments in China.

According to a list of the dead obtained by Daily Champion yesterday, 10 persons on the list died in Guangzhou, five in Beijing and one each in Foshan, Urumqi, Kumming and Nanjing.

Names of the deceased were also given as Said Akinola Akinsanya, Peter Okabudo Uju, Justice Izundu Tochukwu, A. Agboola, Obodozi Lawrence Chineme, Chiseke Okozie, Chris Nwanekezie and Felix Ogbeide.

Others are Tunde Bombata, Michael Balogun, Susanah Imbasi whose passport number was given as A3937197, Joseph Nedum, Paul Nwabueze Ikpeama, Okeke David Udoka, Anyafulu Thomas Madu, Nonso Eweleku, Philip Onyeamaka, Agboola Akinola Sunday and Tunmise Razak Adetunji.

Two of the corpses were identified only as Uche and Emmanuel. Both were said to be residing in Guangzhou at the time of their death.

Of all the 21, only one is female. Some of the corpses are said to have been in the mortuary since 2006.

Meanwhile, the statement said: "Efforts by the ministry and our mission in Beijing, China to contact the families and next-of-kin of the deceased have not been successful due to paucity of information on the deceased at the time of death. In cases where such information were found (such as telephone numbers on some of the deceased), when they were contacted, there were no responses; and in other cases, the family members who responded were not cooperative, regarding decision on what to do with the corpses of their relations."

Calling on relations of the deceased to make arrangements to claim the corpses and return them for burial, the statement said 'failure to comply with the new deadline of December 15, they would in line with its domestic laws, cremate these bodies some of which have been in the mortuaries since 2006."

The foreign affairs ministry also said taking care of the corpses till date is a demonstration of China's respect for Nigeria's culture and an expression of goodwill towards the country.

"It also should be noted that it is truly a gesture of goodwill, respect for Nigeria's culture and the dead, coupled with excellent bilateral relations between the two countries that the government of the Peoples Republic of China has not over the years, taken the unilateral decision to cremate the bodies," the statement further noted