Faraj Allah Jarjour, a Canadian man who died in Cuba in March, was buried in a Russian town north of Moscow after Cuban government workers mistakenly switched two bodies before repatriating them to the wrong countries, according to his family.
The Jarjour family, who are originally from Syria and now live in Laval north of Montreal, were vacationing in Varadero, Cuba, when Faraj Jarjour, 68, died suddenly while swimming in the ocean March 22.
Weeks later, a coffin that was supposed to contain Jarjour’s remains was sent to Quebec by Asistur, a Cuban government agency overseeing medical issues related to travel.
When the funeral service hired by the Jarjours took it to the lab to have him prepared for ceremonies expected to begin last Sunday, the technicians discovered the man in the coffin looked nothing like the picture his family provided.
“We realized it was impossible that it was Mr. Jarjour. It was the wrong body,” said Patrice Chavegros, the vice-president of Athos, a company owning 30 funeral homes in the province.
The cadaver in front of them had a full head of hair, tattoos and looked 20 years younger. It was not Jarjour, who had no hair and was born in 1956 in Syria. He and his family fled war there, landing in Quebec in 2016. Jarjour had made a career as a florist in Aleppo.
‘It’s not a good situation’
Jarjour’s children, Miriam and Karam, spoke to several media outlets over the past week, hoping to get answers about where their father could be, and when would they finally be able to bury him.
Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez made a post on social media apologizing for the situation and saying Cuban authorities were “investigating to clarify the incident.”
Later that day, Chavegros said he received information that Jarjour’s remains had been sent to Russia and that those of a Russian man were sent to Canada instead.
It was unclear at that point whether the Russian family who received Jarjour’s body was aware of what had happened.
But Miriam and Karam Jarjour say Canadian government officials, who are in touch with them every day, have now confirmed that their father was buried in Russia.
In a video interview from their parents’ home in Laval, Miriam Jarjour shook her head recounting the news.
“They’re going to un-bury him and send him to Canada,” she said. “It’s not a good situation, but we don’t have a choice. It’s not in our control. We can only be patient.”
Karam Jarjour said he was relieved to at least now know where his father’s remains are, thanking the Canadian government for its efforts.
The Jarjours said they met with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly this week, who told them she would be doing everything she could so the family could have a proper burial.
“We share the utmost concern for the unimaginable situation his family faces,” Joly wrote on social media.
Cuba has said it would reimburse the $10,000 it cost the family for the repatriation.
The Consulate General of Russia in Montreal said it could not share the identity of the Russian man whose remains were sent to Canada, and that an “official request” from the Canadian government is required in order to have Jarjour’s body exhumed.
“As far as we know, the Russian local authorities are now doing their best to establish all the facts,” the consulate said in an emailed statement.
The children’s mother, Dina Ghoulam, who lost her husband of 35 years when Jarjour died, has been unwell since the family received the wrong body, her daughter said.
And the family still does not have a timeline on when their father could be exhumed and repatriated to Canada.
“They told us it would take some time, that they don’t know when,” said Miriam Jarjour, adding she won’t be at ease until her father is finally home.
The family of a man who died while on vacation in Cuba is trying to track down Faraj Jarjour’s remains after the body of a different man — that didn’t resemble Jarjour — was sent back to Canada. The family says they’ve received no answers about how the mixup happened or where Jarjour’s body is.