The parents of a 39-year-old man who died in Cambodia have been left horrified after the body of a Canadian man in his 70s was sent to them.
Her son Kevin Nightingale, 39, died in May while working as a teacher in Cambodia; authorities said he suffered a heart attack.
When the repatriation of his body finally took place a month later, they arrived at the funeral home to find the body of the wrong man, believed to be a 77-year-old Canadian.
When Kevin’s body arrived in the UK some time later, it was so decomposed it was “almost unrecognisable”.
Her parents, Maureen Thompson and Stephen Nightingale, compared the past two months to “living in a horror movie” and said the ordeal had “prolonged our grief and worry.”
Kevin Nightingale (pictured), 39, died in May while working as a teacher in Cambodia. Authorities said he suffered a heart attack.
Her parents, Maureen Thompson and Stephen Nightingale (pictured), compared the past two months to “living in a horror movie” and said the ordeal had “prolonged our grief and worry”.
Cambodian company Evergreen Funeral Services, which is responsible for the repatriation, has been contacted for comment. Kevin had been living and teaching in Cambodia’s Takéo province for about 10 years.
“He loved his job, he went there and he loved his life,” said Thompson, 59, from Nottingham. “All the kids called him the handsome teacher. He had his whole life ahead of him.”
However, on May 9, she and Nightingale received a call that was every parent’s worst nightmare. Kevin had been found dead at home by a co-worker on May 3 after failing to show up for work for two days.
Authorities in the country informed his family that he had died after falling down the stairs after suffering a heart attack. “I can’t believe he passed away. You don’t expect your own children to die before you,” Thompson said.
Kevin’s family had to raise £7,500 to bring him home via Evergreen. However, the Cambodian repatriation service sent the wrong body to Nottingham-based funeral home LJ Crawley on June 11.
Ms Thompson went with Kevin’s brother Sean to see who she thought was her son, but instead found a man almost twice her age. “I thought, ‘Oh my God’. The shock and horror was overwhelming,” she recalled.
“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Our minds were all over the place. It was pure panic, it was absolutely horrendous.”
Nightingale, 63, was not with them at the time but remembers receiving a heartbreaking phone call from Sean. “He said ‘it’s not Kevin’ and I said ‘you’re joking, right?'”
She added: “I felt sick to my stomach. We were all thinking, ‘I hope they haven’t cremated him.'” Kevin’s body was eventually flown to the UK but was badly decomposed, according to the family.
On May 9, his parents were informed that Kevin had been found dead at his home by a colleague on May 3 after not showing up for work for two days.
That meant they had to seal his body in a coffin as soon as the coroner released it, as it was “contaminating” the funeral home’s morgue. “I’ll never forget it, it was in such bad condition,” Thompson said.
Evergreen reimbursed Kevin’s family for the cost of repatriation but said the mix-up had been an “absolute nightmare”. The Foreign Office confirmed it had helped the family of a Briton who had died in Cambodia.
“Someone needs to be held accountable for this, because it made everything worse. It prolonged our pain and worry,” Thompson said. “How in the world did they get it mixed up? It’s unbelievable. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life.”
Mr Nightingale said: “We just want someone to take charge of this. The mistakes made there must have been horrendous to mistake a 39-year-old for a guy in his 70s. It’s incomprehensible.”
“There will certainly be individual checks, double and triple checks,” said Kevin’s family, who are still awaiting the results of samples taken during an autopsy in the UK, which they have been told could take 18 weeks.
Kevin was buried next to his grandmother on July 25. “He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet,” his father added. “He was a heartbreaker and had a heart of gold.”