Where do they bury the dead if a plane crashes on the border of two states?

Answer 1

With the advent of the railroad, families could have a deceased family member transported to any State. The family brought a wagon to meet the train, or the Furniture Maker met the train to transport the body to the church for services or to the graveyard. Furniture Makers later became the first undertakers; their job remained unchanged through to around 1900. They made / sold the coffin, transported, and sometimes dug the graves. Often, the funeral was held in a side room off the from the "furniture" side of the business.

As undertakers became more specialized, Furniture Makers and Undertakers split the two businesses. Funeral Homes were established. This evolved into Mortuaries and Funeral Directors.

Today, if a plane crashed at the border, the bodies would be taken to the nearest coroner's office for autopsy--required when there is a death by anything other than natural causes. Authorities would determine who has juristiction. Then, again, the family would decide where the person is to be buried. However, instead of train transport, there are two ways a body can be transported across State lines--and only with mandatory embalming done first.

A family can pay one local funeral home nearest the coroner's office to handle the body, embalm it, file the death certificate, and have forms filled out for legal transport of a body into another State. The body would be driven in a hearse to the other location/State and delivered to a second Funeral Home nearest where the person is to be buried. Or, if it is too far and too costly to drive the body, after the coroner and local funeral home fnish their work, the body can be shipped as airline cargo, with appropriate permits. The body must be embalmed first.

Bodies with certain contagions or that pose a public health risk may be subject to stricter rules about transport into another State or Country.