Wrong body returned from Cuba to Quebec family after father dies on vacation

MONTREAL — A Montreal-area woman is asking Canadian authorities to help locate her father’s body in Cuba after a devastating mix-up that saw her family receive a stranger’s remains instead.

Miriam Jarjour says she was swimming with her 68-year-old father in the ocean near Varadero on March 22 when he suddenly had a heart attack and died. 

She says she followed the directions given to her by the Canadian consulate, and paid $10,000 to have the body returned home to the family in Laval, Que.

However, the casket that arrived late last week contained the body of a Russian man who was at least 20 years younger than Faraj Allah Jarjour and, unlike him, had a full head of hair and tattoos.