THE BODIES of three men are lying, unclaimed, in the morgue of Paphos General Hospital. Two of them have been there for six months.
The director of the Hospital, Filaktis Constantinides, appealed to the Cyprus Mail for help.
“These three men have been lying here unclaimed for far too long,” he explained. “I appeal to the general public to come forward if they have any knowledge about them, its time they were given a proper burial.”
Information gathered indicates that one of the men is a Slovak, Igor Plhy, who was dead on arrival at hospital. He has been in the morgue since December 24, 2007.
On December 12, 2007, a man believed to be Frank Otel, and initially thought to be Canadian, died in a ward of the hospital where he had been receiving treatment.
The third man is British, and may be William Woody. He also died in the hospital, of complications associated with cirrhosis of the liver.
“No one came to claim these people, so I contacted the relevant embassies. The police have also been unable to track down any family members,” said Constantinides. In fact, mystery surrounds the man who died on December 12, as the Canadian embassy categorically denies having a subject with this name in Cyprus.
It is now understood he may be Dutch.
“I wrote to the medical headquarters in Nicosia in April, to ask for legal advice and clarification of what I could and should do,” he said. “I need to find out what the law states, probably from the Attorney-general, and take the appropriate action. They need to inform me: who is responsible for burying these people, who will pay, where should they be buried and on what authority. I really feel for them, it’s not right they should be in the morgue for so long. They are starting to decompose.”
Constantinides admitted to the Mail yesterday that he had not received a response to his letter.
“I have been working at this Hospital for 28 years and I have been its director for four years; in all that time I have never known such a terrible situation as this,” he said.
“People usually stay in the fridge for less than a week. If it is slightly longer, it is because their relatives are making arrangements to fly them home. Also, the facility is not made to cope with bodies for such long periods of time. There are spaces for six bodies in Paphos morgue, and three are already taken.’
Two of the men are thought to be permanent residents of Cyprus, the English man and the Dutch/Canadian.
“A decision must be made to bury them somewhere,” the hospital director said.
“My idea is that we take DNA samples from them before burial. If any relatives are found, we can match the samples. They won’t get their loved one’s body, just their bones. But at least we can show them a grave,” he suggested.
