Family receives wrong body returned after father’s death in Cuba

NOS News•today, 10:02

The family of a Canadian man who died in Cuba a month ago is still searching for his body. The 68-year-old man died of a suspected heart attack on a family vacation, but the body sent to Canada was not his.

Faraj Jarjour’s family says another man’s body was shipped to Canada. Jarjour, who fled the war from Aleppo, Syria, with his family in 2016, stayed at a resort in Varadero. He was there with twelve other family members when disaster struck on March 22.

“I heard my sister screaming,” his son Karam told Canadian public broadcaster CBC. “I saw her in the sea and my father floating on the water,” he says. They tried to resuscitate their father on the beach, but that turned out to be in vain. Seven hours later, Jarjour’s body was taken to Havana, where the nearest morgue was.

The family then contacted the Canadian consular services in Cuba. There they were advised to travel back to Canada and contact authorities there to arrange the transfer of Faraj Jarjour’s body home. The family paid the transport costs of approximately 7,000 euros, but was not told about the whereabouts of the man’s body after several weeks had passed. Finally there was news: his remains would arrive on April 18.

But when the funeral home in Laval took the casket to a laboratory, the person’s body looked nothing like the photo the family provided. Instead, they found a man with a full head of hair and tattoos who looked at least 20 years younger. According to the BBC, the Russian consulate has now confirmed that this man has Russian nationality.

Anas Fransis, a friend of the family, told the British broadcaster that the body of the unknown Russian is still in Canada and that the body of Faraj Jarjour is still missing. “All the family wants to know is: Is he still in Cuba? Has he been sent to Russia?” said Fransis. “Where is he?”

Global Affairs Canada, which manages Canada’s diplomatic and consular relations, points to Cuba. “It is the local funeral home that handles all aspects of a foreigner’s death in Cuba, including embalming, booking flights, delivering the remains to the airline and communicating shipping details,” the BBC quoted the organization.

The funeral home that received the wrong body says it is in contact with the Cuban company responsible for delivering it. The search for the Canadian’s body is still ongoing. It has not been confirmed that Jarjour’s body may have been sent to Russia.

Family friend Fransis says that the family is calling for all help that will allow them to bury their father. “It should have been a simple transport. Then the family would have just turned the page and got on with their lives.”