Amsterdam
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On a Monday morning in early September, Ben Vos’s phone rings at 5 a.m., marking a particularly early start to his week. The call is from air traffic control at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, informing Vos that a passenger on a flight from Asia has died en route to the Netherlands.
And thus, the process he oversees hundreds of times a year — managing post-mortem care for travelers who pass away abroad or, in this case, onboard — begins anew for Vos, who is mortuary coordinator at Mortuarium Schiphol, or Schiphol Mortuary, located outside the airport’s sprawling pre-security retail and dining area.
Following the flight’s 6 a.m. arrival, Vos will accompany a representative of the Koninklijke Marechaussee, the Netherlands agency that handles border control, onto the aircraft after passengers have disembarked. Also present will be the coroner, who will make a preliminary evaluation for cause of death as a heart attack. Vos and the Marechaussee agent will then place the deceased passenger into a body bag for removal off the aircraft — through a rear emergency exit, behind the wings — and to the mortuary, which has an airside door.
“There’s a special vehicle that comes right to the plane. We can go out of the plane and directly into the vehicle, so lots of people don’t see what we do at the airport,” he explains.
Ensuring maximum privacy and respect for the deceased is a big part of the job for Vos. Equally essential is supporting the bereaved, who are often struggling not only with grief but the overwhelming reality of a scenario many travelers don’t give a second thought to when planning their next vacation: What happens if they die abroad?
Vos and his team of three at Schiphol Mortuary are specially trained to handle that very process, which in industry terms is known as repatriation of mortal remains, or RMR. Every department at the airport has “the small details covered, says Vos, and his team is no exception.
While it’s not uncommon for airports to have morgues or cold storage capabilities onsite, full-service facilities dedicated to death care are much rarer. MOS, as the mortuary is known, became the first such offering when it began operations in 1997 at Schiphol, now Europe’s second-busiest airport.
In 2017, MOS moved to its current location, separated from some of Schiphol’s departure gates by a barbed wire fence. It’s behind the CitizenM airport hotel, where suitcase-toting guests sometimes pause for a closer look at the neighboring building upon noticing the all-caps signage: MORTUARIUM SCHIPHOL.
Beyond its understated facade, which has vertical strips of wood and strategically placed windows, the approximately 9,700-square-foot facility contains all the elements of a funeral home: an embalming room, cold storage, an area to wash bodies before burial, as is custom in certain religions and cultures, and a viewing room with a circular skylight. In the small atrium, a single tree reaches toward the sky.
In a separate lounge area, a few couches line the walls, with several circular tables and chairs throughout the room. On the tables, pitchers of water sit alongside vases of artificial flowers. “We have flowers for spring and summer, and then autumn and winter,” says Vos.
While the mortuary’s neutral design aesthetic offers a soothing environment for the bereaved, its functionality is specifically designed to handle the complex logistics of RMR. The airside door streamlines the process of transporting the deceased from the aircraft to the mortuary — a journey of just a few hundred yards, with no additional security clearances.
The facility can accommodate 36 bodies in its refrigeration units, which are kept at around 39 degrees Fahrenheit (just under 4 degrees Celsius) — though as part of the airport’s crisis plan, capacity can be increased to 400.
“You are mitigating a possibility of decomposition of the deceased — that’s the first thing,” says Emerson De Luca, executive secretary for the World Organization of Funeral Operatives (FIAT-IFTA). “This is a facility dedicated to human remains. In terms of dignity for the deceased and respect for the deceased and their family, it is quite important and unique. It is a very, very good setup.”
Vos and his team are adept at navigating RMR, with its strict paperwork and protocols. They receive deceased individuals in transit from other countries and prepare others for flights out of the Netherlands (or to funeral homes or facilities of the family’s choosing within a nearly 1,000-mile driving distance). They collaborate with doctors, airline and airport staff, medical examiners and government agencies, including embassies, to obtain death certificates and customs declarations. They coordinate with embalming teams — many countries, including the US, require embalming for RMR — as well as arranging the donation of certain organs (removal of eyes and skin is conducted on-site, while the process for internal organs is done at a medical facility). While MOS does not have cremation facilities, it can put families in touch with companies that offer the service.
The business remains open around the clock, with at least two employees on site at all times, because death rarely accommodates schedules. “It’s 24-7,” says Vos, who is accustomed to answering his mobile phone at all hours. “It never stops.”
MOS oversees about 2,500 repatriations every year, working in tandem with sibling company Post Mortem Repatriation — both are subsidiaries of Netherlands-based ZDG. The figure includes Dutch citizens who die abroad and are returned to the Netherlands, and foreign nationals who die in the Netherlands and are sent back to their countries of origin, or to other destinations abroad.
While global figures aren’t readily available, the number of Dutch holidaymakers who die abroad has increased significantly in recent years.
In 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided consular assistance for 1,275 deaths of Dutch citizens abroad. The total number, however, is likely higher, as that figure only represents cases in which consular assistance was sought.
Over the years, Vos has noticed some subtle patterns. Winter, for example, is a “very busy time,” he explains, because many travelers go skiing, while seniors tend to visit warm-weather countries. “Lots of Dutch citizens are going to Spain, to Portugal, but they are old and they pass away there,” he says.
MOS also handles post-mortem care for in-flight fatalities — such as the passenger who died returning from Asia. They recently also coordinated with a local funeral home following the death of an individual who died while on the job at Schiphol.
Vos and his team are well versed in various mourning rituals and customs, and work alongside priests, rabbis, imams and Schiphol’s Airport Chaplaincy, while supporting bereaved people from cultures around the globe. In the lounge area, a curtain hanging from the ceiling can separate men and women during funeral ceremonies, in line with some religious beliefs.
For Vos, some of the most memorable ceremonies happen for individuals from Suriname, a South American country and former Dutch colony. In accordance with Afro-Suriname tradition, death rituals include washing the deceased, a task handled by what are known as “last offices associations:” organizations of Afro-Surinamese volunteers across the Netherlands. Afterward, family, friends and other loved ones partake in hours-long affairs complete with music and libations at MOS.
“There are bands with trumpets and drums,” says Vos. “They’re singing, they’re crying, but they’re laughing and they’re drinking. They come in the morning, at 10 o’clock, and maybe it takes four or five hours.” They celebrate the person’s life and honor their death, he explains. “It’s so nice to see.”
No worldwide law governs the process of transporting human remains across international borders. Instead, various airline rules, industry standards, and health regulations — both in the country where the individual died, and in their final destination — all play a role. However, in 1937, the first multinational pact to set standards for the practice was established: the International Arrangement concerning the Conveyance of Corpses.
Also known as the Berlin Agreement, it created a standard travel document for the deceased known as a laissez-passer — sometimes known as a “mortuary passport” — that includes key information such as full name and cause of death. It also established rules for coffins, including minimum thickness and the requirement for a watertight seal. In 1973, the Council of Europe updated and simplified the Berlin Agreement, which resulted in the Agreement on the Transfer of Corpses (Strasbourg Agreement).
Elements such as the laissez-passer are still in use, though nowadays the aviation industry follows protocols and guidelines set by the International Air Transport Association — most notably the Manual for Compassionate Travel, which was first released in 2019.
Developed in coordination with FIAT-IFTA and other funeral industry organizations, the manual, which costs about $167, is updated annually and includes country-specific requirements for RMR and other protocols for funeral industry professionals. In accordance with many government regulations, IATA’s guidelines include placing the deceased in a hermetically sealed bag — in the past, zinc-lined coffins, which are heavier and more expensive, were commonly used.
MOS can provide coffins. About a dozen plain caskets — some made with poplar, others from chipboard — stand against the wall in the back room of the mortuary. When it comes to incoming caskets, all MOS employees have air cargo security authorization — this means they are allowed to conduct the requisite security checks on coffins to make sure they contain only the deceased and no contraband.
In the final steps before a deceased person leaves MOS, paperwork is checked again, and Vos or a member of his team closes the coffin.
It is then sealed with a red wax stamp featuring the mortuary’s own design, which also serves to indicate that all paperwork is in order. If the body is to be flown, a MOS employee encases the coffin in thick black plastic wrap, which serves both to protect it and to make its contents as inconspicuous as possible during its journey to and from the cargo hold.
RMR is expensive, though costs vary widely. According to De Luca, a typical range is between 5,000 and 10,000 euros (between $5,800 and $17,600).
Reputable travel insurance companies will usually cover the costs of RMS claims. That said, it’s always helpful to look at the fine print to make sure your policy includes RMR, which may fall under the broader benefit of medical transport, notes Jeff Rolander, vice president of claims and customer experience at Faye, a US-based travel insurance provider.
“This benefit may fall under that larger medical transport benefit, or it may stand alone,” Rolander explains. “But typically, yes, repatriation of remains is the terminology that you want to look for.”
Industry experts also advise travelers to truthfully disclose their medical history on insurance applications and paperwork.
“There are unfortunately claims that are denied because people didn’t disclose pre-existing medical conditions,” says Brett Wheatley, group executive chairman for Global 24 Advisory and Assistance, an emergency medical assistance company with headquarters in Australia and Thailand. “I think it’s important that people understand exactly what they bought, what their entitlements are, and what could actually cause a policy not to deliver in the event of a major incident.”
Not surprisingly, Vos’s line of work has helped make him a strong proponent for travel insurance. “I always say get travel insurance before you go traveling all over the world,” he says.
While many days on the job follow a similar pattern for Vos and his team, exceptions occasionally occur. One is repatriation for deceased asylum seekers who may not have a passport or other identification, or for individuals from countries with highly restrictive governments.
Repatriations to Russia, for example, usually take much longer because of embassy approvals and paperwork, which is more expensive and complicated, Vos says. Factor in the ongoing restrictions on Russian airspace, and the entire process can require 10 to 12 days, compared to the two-to-three-day duration that’s the norm for many countries.
“They want all the documents translated into Russian,” Vos explains. “It costs a lot of money. (Just) the embassy is 600 euros ($700), to translate the documents is 400 euros ($465), so that’s 1,000 euros ($1,163) on only the paperwork.”
Then there are the occasions in which homicide or foul play is suspected. MOS also has an autopsy room strictly used by forensic investigators; occasionally, journalists have shown up at the mortuary in hopes of uncovering new leads. In one recent high-profile case involving the death of Dutch citizens abroad, Vos remembers, “I believe there were 200 people here at the door.”
In such scenarios, he contacts the Marechaussee for assistance in dispersing crowds from the premises: “When I call, they come in two minutes.”
Social media also can pose challenges from time to time. In accordance with ZDG’s overall marketing strategy, MOS has a TikTok account, which includes a dozen videos showing MOS employees at work: receiving bodies, sealing coffins, putting the deceased in cold storage. In the videos, no identifying information, such as paperwork, faces, or clothing, is shown. In the comments, many users express genuine curiosity and gratitude.
However, some videos caused a stir in late 2024 when several of them featuring a former MOS employee who also appeared on the Netherlands version of the reality show “Love Island” went viral. That led to crowds of gawking onlookers coming to the mortuary for a real-life peek at what they’d seen online.
As a result, Vos found himself again playing the role of security guard. “I told them that this is not Efteling,” he says, referring to an amusement park in the southern Netherlands.
Indeed, Vos has seen plenty since he started working in the funeral industry in 1990. After selling his own company, which specialized in building custom bathrooms, he began doing part-time work as a chauffeur for weddings and funerals, before joining MOS and working his way up the ranks.
Throughout those 35 years, Vos says the best compliment he can receive comes with the knowledge that he and his staff have helped make what’s often the most difficult moment in many people’s lives a little less hard.
“This gives you a great feeling, when you have finished the job with the deceased person and (their) family,” he says. “When everything’s done well, that’s the satisfaction.”
