RELATIVES and friends who were gathering in the village of Armou, Paphos, for the funeral of a 57-year-old man yesterday afternoon found out at the last minute that they were about to bury a complete stranger.
As the mourners gathered to send off one of their community, they learned that the object of their grief was to be found at his home in the village, alive and kicking.
Real life imitated the blackest of Hollywood comedies, when, in a bizarre mix-up, the body of a man found on Monday afternoon was mistakenly identified as that of the 57-year-old.
The body of the unknown man was discovered in a building under construction in the centre of Paphos. Police tried for some time to identify the body, hindered by the fact that there was nothing to suggest whose it might be.
Late on Monday afternoon, the husband of the 57-year-old’s sister – who also lives in Armou – was taken to the spot where the body had been discovered, and then to the mortuary at Paphos General Hospital.
Relatives of the 57-year-old had apparently started to worry, and had contacted the police because they had not heard from him for some hours.
When the 57-year-old’s brother-in-law arrived on the scene, he immediately “identified” the body and even gave a statement to the police.
Early yesterday morning, arrangements started to be made for the funeral, the “dear departed’s” siblings and other relatives dressed in black, and a Paphos funeral director was brought in to take care of proceedings.
Later in the day, shortly before the body was to be brought from the mortuary to the village for the funeral, some of his siblings wanted to prepare the home of the “deceased” for receiving mourners after the funeral.
When they entered the house, they are said to have almost had a heart-attack when, lo and behold, they found their brother relaxing in a chair. After the initial shock had passed, the 57-year-old was able to assure his siblings that he had been nowhere near the site of his “demise”.
After the police were given the news, they continued their enquiries and were finally able to establish that the body was that of a man from Limassol who had disappeared the previous day.
Paphos police were not at liberty to name the family involved, but told the Mail last night that they knew the 57-year-old was called Stelios, as he was a former police sergeant.
The duty officer was at a loss as to how such a mistake could have been made: “They said it was him, so we believed them.”
