Family members of three youths — two girls and one boy — are struggling to bring back the bodies of their children who died under mysterious circumstances in foreign countries over the past week.The latest case is the sudden death of Mehak Singh from Ghangas village in Ludhiana district. He died under unexplained circumstances in Ingalls, Indiana, US, on April 22.Mehak, the younger son of marginal farmer Udey Singh, had left India for Indiana on April 1, 2024. He reportedly worked overtime to improve his family’s financial status. Before moving to Indiana, he had a private job in Ludhiana after completing an ITI diploma.Harkiran Singh Ghangas, a cousin of the deceased, said the family had sent Mehak to Indiana hoping they could live a dignified life by investing his income in small, profitable ventures in India.Harkiran said the family does not know the reason behind his death and cannot afford to repatriate his body.While friends of the deceased, including Lavi Sharma and Avi Sharma in Canada, have launched a fundraising campaign, residents of Ghangas village have urged the Indian government to help the aggrieved family bring the body to Punjab.In another case, Pratibha Gupta, 29, from an Ahmedgarh-based family led by Sanjiv Kumar Jindal, was found dead under mysterious circumstances near the staircase of her room in Brampton, Canada, on Saturday.Though some members of the landlord’s family were in the house, the victim received no help for hours as the owner was away in the US. The family has not yet received Pratibha’s postmortem report.A third family, from Manuke village in Ludhiana and currently living in Akalgarh Sudhar, is waiting for the body of their daughter, Anmoldeep Kaur. She was found dead in a park near her residence in Ontario. Her father is retired Subedar Parminder Singh.The deceased’s brother, Dilpreet Singh, has reached Ontario from the US to expedite the repatriation process with the help of an NGO, but the reason behind her sudden death is still unknown.The aggrieved families are facing multiple hardships: the sudden death of their children, lack of information about the exact reasons and circumstances, and the daunting, costly process of bringing the bodies back to Punjab.Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh Boparai said he has sought the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs to expedite the process of bringing the bodies to Punjab. He noted that law enforcement agencies in different countries follow procedures as per local laws, which take time depending on the circumstances of death.“We are in touch with all three families and authorities in the Ministry of External Affairs and trying to get the process expedited,” Boparai said. He added that an NGO from Manuke village has already started working to bring Anmoldeep Kaur’s body from Ontario.