Airline returns mother's missing ashes

The ashes of a New Zealand-based woman which went missing from an Emirates flight have been found and are now their winging their way to her family to London.

Auckland's John Ozimek said his mother Kathleen's dying wish was to have her ashes scattered next to her husband in Britain, The Dominion Post reported today.

But Emirates refused to let him take the ashes with him as carry-on luggage on a flight to London on August 3.

Instead he had to pack the urn in a suitcase and despite five luggage tags as extra precautions the suitcase was lost during a Dubai stopover.

An Emirates spokesman today said the bag containing the urn had been located at an airport in the Seychelles and was now on its way to London, due to arrive later today.

Mr Ozimek's mother died in April aged 91. She had left her west London home four years ago to join her son and his family in Auckland.

He said his promise to scatter her under a rose bush with his father had sustained her in her final days.

- NZPA