You do not need to register a death from unnatural causes by yourself. For a death resulted from unnatural causes such as poison or violence, the case will be reported to the Coroner. The Coroner may conduct a post-mortem examination or an inquest to determine the cause of death. When the cause of death is determined, the Coroner will inform the Registrar of Deaths to register the death. The Registrar will then notify the family member of the deceased in writing after the death is registered.

Registration of a death referred by the Coroner is only processed at the Births and Deaths General Register Office in Admiralty. You can apply for a certified copy of the death entry at that Office or any of the other two Deaths Registries on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon after you have received the Registrar’s notification on the completion of death registration.

• Addresses and office hours of Deaths Registries
  http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/immigration/bdmreg/death/address/index.htm
• More on applying for a search of death records and a certified copy of a death entry
  http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/immigration/bdmreg/death/applydeath.htm

You are required to provide the Registrar's notification letter upon application and pay HK$140 for one certified copy.

If you had not applied for a certified copy of a death entry at the time of the death registration but need to get one afterwards, you may need to apply for a search of death records first and you will have to pay a search fee (HK$140 for Particular Search and HK$680 for General Search).

• More on applying for a search of death records and a certified copy of a death entry
  http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/immigration/bdmreg/death/applydeath.htm

The Coroner usually takes 1 to 6 months to determine the cause of death. If the cause of death is determined by the Coroner and made known to the Registrar, the death will be registered within 1 week and you will be notified by letter.

If you need to enquire about the registration of a death which was reported to the Coroner, you can telephone the Births and Deaths General Register Office at (852) 2867 2784 within office hours.