STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The searing grief caused by the death of Staten Islander Sean Collins at age 29 has been inflamed by a hellishly "broken system" in Puerto Rico that so far is preventing a proper burial, according to his family.

Collins, a Sunnyside resident who was a linesman for Northline Utilities on Staten Island and a member of IBEW Local 3, was found dead on Feb. 20 inside a rental car after he didn't return home from a vacation in Puerto Rico.

"We need to put out a plea for help," David Drogon, a brother-in-law of Collins, said with desperation in his voice during a phone call to the Advance from Puerto Rico.

"It's totally unacceptable what is happening to my family and I am really angry."

All the family wants to do is pay their final respects and lay their loved one to rest.

"We just want to get him home so he can be with his loved ones," Drogon said. "We don't want to have to cremate him in Puerto Rico. We want to bury him next to his father in St. Peter's Cemetery."

Harmon Home for Funerals in West Brighton is poised to handle the arrangements once Collins is back on Staten Island, Drogon said.

But the family is wondering when, or even if, Collins will return to our borough.

Dealing with the morgue has been one of the most distressing aspects of the family's unfathomable ordeal.

Collins was dead for days before the family knew. The 29-year-old man was brought to the morgue on the Tuesday that he was found dead. That Friday, the family was pleading on TV for the safe return of their loved one whom they still thought was alive, but missing, Drogon said.

"His family was not notified" of Collins death by the authorities, Drogon said. "His family just randomly drove to the morgue and we found him for ourselves and then it was the family that notified police, not the other way around."

The misery continues since, despite repeated requests from the family, officials at the morgue have not released Collins' body or supplied a timeline for when he will be reunited with his family, Drogon said.

The morgue where Collins' body has been kept for the past week does not have the capability to properly preserve bodies for extended periods of time, Drogon contended.

"It's not the police," Dorgon said, adding that cops have given Collins' belongings back to the family.

The family recognized Collins' tattoos, the autopsy was performed and the toxicology tests were done, but the morgue has not yet scientifically identified him though the dental records have been provided, Drogon said.

"They don't need to do anything else, what are they waiting for?" a clearly exasperated Drogon said.

The family has contacted the local politicians in Puerto Rico.

Rep. Dan Donovan has helped.

"We've been in repeated contact with senior Puerto Rican officials about what's happening and our intervention has been effective," said a spokesman for Donovan.

Drogon thinks that the family might need help from the highest levels of government, perhaps even President Trump.

He is asking people to put pressure on officials at all levels via social media and other forms of communication from Staten Island to Puerto Rico to bring Collins home.

People wanting to offer the family assistance could send emails to david.drogon@gmail.com.