A British family who raised €8,000 to arrange for the body of their son who died in Cambodia to be transported were left in shock after discovering they had been sent the body of a 77-year-old man, not his 39-year-old son, according to his one-year-old son Sky News.
Kevin died of a heart attack at home in Cambodia on May 1. A body believed to be that of a 39-year-old man arrived in the UK on June 10, but when Kevin’s mother Maureen went to identify the body, she realised it was not her son.
“If Maureen hadn’t seen him, we would have buried a guy nobody knew with Kevin’s grandmother,” said Stephen Nightingale, Kevin’s father.
According to the same source, Stephen called the translation company and explained what was happening. The 77-year-old was eventually cremated in the UK and his ashes were sent back to Cambodia.
Kevin’s body arrived a week after the mistake was reported, but by then, because it had not been embalmed, it was already in an “advanced” state of decomposition.
According to Sky NewsThe 39-year-old’s father said Kevin was “almost unrecognisable”. The state of decomposition meant the coffin had to be left closed during the funeral.
“I wanted so much to look at him and say goodbye, son, forgive me for everything, but I never had that chance,” Kevin’s father said.
Although the company reimbursed Kevin’s family for the transfer costs, it has yet to apologize or explain how the misidentification could have occurred.
Author: Morning mail
Source: CM Jornal
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