A son was left in the dark about his mother's death for more than a month after a mishap in the Foreign Office. He had to fork out thousands of pounds to have her body repatriated.
A mishap in the Foreign Office meant a devastated son was left in the dark about his mother's death for more than a month - before being forced to fork out £3,300 to have her body repatriated.
Neil Davis, 46, told the Daily Mail that the mystery surrounding 71-year-old June's death in the exotic resort of Hurghada, Egypt, has been a 'living nightmare'. He last heard his beloved mother speak the day before she jetted off to northern Africa - where he was told she was meeting a friend - on March 2 via a voice note. Just three days later the pensioner, who 'would have done anything for anyone', was found dead in the Red Sea.
Yet a 'miscommunication' between the Foreign Office and Egyptian authorities meant that Mr Davis and his sister Katy, 40, spent weeks fretting about her whereabouts. The son, from Staffordshire, fumed: 'The Foreign Office have been completely useless throughout the whole situation. The lack of information we've been given has been astounding.
'Mum left me a voice note before she went away just to tell me where she was going. She'd also messaged one of her friends. But then we had no contact from her for a couple of weeks.
'I'd noticed that she hadn't been on WhatsApp for days. That was very unusual for her, very out of character. She'd always let you know where she was going, what she was doing. June died after getting into difficulty in the water off Hurghada (pictured), on the eastern coast of Egypt, before suffering a heart attack.
It took the Foreign Office a further three weeks to make Mr Davis aware of where his mother's body was being stored. It had, by that point, been left with the country's public prosecutor for almost two months. June made it her wish while she was still alive to be buried back in Staffordshire at the same gravesite where her parents were laid to rest.
But, due to the amount of time her body had been preserved in Africa, Mr Davis was told by the Foreign Office in late April that the Egyptians were threatening to bury her abroad without his consent. After being advised to contact a British funeral director, the utterly bemused Englishman was later forced to fork out £3,300 to have his mother repatriated home.
His family have now set up a GoFundMe page to try to give her the send off she deserves. Mr Davis had hoped that cost could be covered by his mother's travel insurance, though the company has since said it will only be contributing a maximum of £2,000, pending approval. June returned to Stafford on Friday April 15, 41 days after she passed away. The mother-of-two's funeral is yet to take place.
Her son describes the ordeal as 'totally ridiculous', and one which he hopes no other mourner has to endure.
'I had been in contact with the Foreign Office again and it was eight or nine weeks before I actually found out where mum was being kept. 'I was told that, because of the amount of time the Egyptians had the body, the public prosecutor over there had got involved and basically decided to bury her, even though I'd told the Foreign Office multiple times they had no consent from anyone.
'So then I had to run around trying to sort a funeral director. I was told it would be thousands to have the body sent back - and not a lot of people have that sort of money available.
'I was thinking at this point that they could have already buried her out there. I looked online and it seemed as though she would have been buried at a charity gravesit
Foreign Office Egypt Hurghada Red Sea Voice Note Whatsapp Miscommunication Lack Of Information Funeral Director Gofundme Page Travel Insurance Charity Gravesite
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Son left in dark for over a month about mother's death in EgyptA devastated son was left in the dark about his mother's death for over a month due to a mishap in the Foreign Office. Neil Davis, 46, had to wait more than eight weeks for his mother's body to be repatriated from Egypt.
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