Wellington, July 14 NZPA - The Wellington coroner has reiterated to funeral directors that they must notify the coroner when a body is returned to New Zealand following a death overseas.

Ian Smith today issued his formal findings in the death of New Zealander Tim MacKay, who was killed in a suicide bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in July last year.

A post-mortem was carried out by Indonesian authorities and his body was brought back to New Zealand.

However, the coroner's office was not officially informed by the funeral directors involved, Wellington's Lychgate Funeral Home.

Mr Smith repeated the chief coroner's ruling that the coroner should be notified if a body was being brought into the country.

He did not believe it should be up to either the funeral director or police who decided whether the death should be referred to the coroner, he said.

"The practicalities are that unless funeral directors ensure that advance notice is given to the chief coroner under a procedure that has been outlined to the Funeral Directors Association of NZ (FDANZ) there is a likelihood of delay, uncertainty and upset to relatives as a result."

Lychgate Funeral Home's Michael Wolffram accepted the coroner was entitled to be informed of repatriations and it was not onerous to report them.

However, he questioned why it was needed and said there also needed to be more communication from the coroner.

"I am at a loss as to quite why this happening... it is another layer of difficulty for the families."

It was not the case with Mr MacKay, but Mr Wolffram said there had been situation where families had arrived at the airport to receive the body but found it had been taken away as the coroner wanted to investigate, which could be painful and costly for families.

"A part has been the coronial service not reporting or communicating clearly with those people involved. It would be in everybody's interest if we could have some clear communication."

Mr Wolffram said funeral directors did not "find" bodies when they were repatriated. However, the coroner appeared to be interpreting it as such.

"It's not our role to report deaths to the coroner but here he is saying all repatriated deaths, rather than unexpected or unusual ones."

FDANZ president Tony Garing said it was an issue of perception a body should have been through all the necessary procedures before it arrived back in New Zealand.

"The coroner has the ability to take jurisdiction, but in order for that to happen he needs to know as soon as possible after the death.

"Our advice to our members is simply that when they are notified by a family member of a death overseas, to phone the coroner's 0800 number so that they are aware and any interest by the coroner can be established before the body arrives in New Zealand."