A family received the body of a Russian with hair and tattoos in place of the dead father in Cuba. Then the situation became even more bizarre

A Canadian family received the wrong body after a family member died in Cuba. It demands answers about the situation from the officials responsible, according to the BBC.

Faraj Jarjour died of a heart attack while on vacation with his family in Varadero, Cuba, on March 22. A month later, his children were supposed to receive the body for burial. They say they got another body in return, and their father’s is still missing.

Anas Fransis, a close friend of the Jarjour family, said in an interview with the BBC that: “It’s a tragedy for them.”

The family lived in Laval, Quebec, and were vacationing on the beach at a resort in Varadero. Then the 68-year-old father suffered a heart attack. There was no doctor around, according to Anas Francis, and the family members had to wait an hour and a half before receiving medical help. They waited another seven hours for the father’s lifeless body to be transferred to Havana, where the nearest morgue in the area was located.

The family then contacted the Canadian consulate in Cuba, and officials there urged them to immediately return to Canada, where they would contact local authorities to transfer the father’s body home. Fransis said the family was told to pay C$10,000 for the transportation fee.

After paying, the Jarjour family members went several weeks without any word from the authorities about their father’s body. Then, they received word that the lifeless body would reach them on April 18.

However, the body that arrived with them, along with Faraj Jarjour’s death certificate and travel documents, was the wrong one, according to information given by Fransis. Instead, they received the body of a long-haired, tattooed man who was “much, much younger.” The Russian consulate in Canada later identified him as a man of Russian citizenship.

On Monday, Francis said the Russian national’s lifeless body was still in Canada, while Faraj’s was still missing. He accused the Canadian authorities of “negligence”, claiming that the family received very little help from consular services. He added: “The whole family wants to know. Is he still in Cuba? Was he sent to Russia? Where is he?”

Global Affairs Canada responded to questions from the BBC, saying they were aware of the death of a Canadian in Cuba, which Cuban authorities were dealing with while working with family members. A spokesperson added that generally when a Canadian citizen dies in Cuba, Global Affairs Canada “can facilitate a transfer of money between the family and local funeral services. These services take care of all the details of a foreigner’s death in Cuba, including embalming, reserving a seat on the plane, bringing the body to the airport and communicating the transfer details.”

The ministry did not want to provide further details on Faraj’s case, citing confidentiality concerns.

Fransis added that the family was told by Canadian authorities to contact Asistur, a Cuban medical insurance company that was responsible for delivering Faraj’s body. However, he said the family was never in direct contact with Asistur and that all the logistical details of transferring his body – including payments – were facilitated by Canadian authorities.

The family that received the wrong body told CTV News that they have contacted the Cuban company that handled their father and are waiting for his body.

Fransis also said: “It should have been a simple transport.”

Publisher: CS

Download the Digi24 app and find out the most important news of the day