A man’s body was discovered missing from the city morgue only after a mortician went to retrieve his remains to prepare it for burial.

Officials at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) now have to figure out what happened to 45-year-old William Symonette’s body.

Symonette was found dead on a beach in Rock Sound, Eleuthera last December.

He is now the subject of a coroner’s inquest.

According to Director of Northside Funeral and Cremation Centre Kemuel Cox, the family is distressed.

“The family had made arrangements . . . in terms of having final services [last] weekend. That is not going to happen now. We just found out that the DNA results are not ready so therefore the body cannot be released,” he said.

“[Wednesday] when we went to pick up the body, they were trying to locate the body. The body is supposed to be at the morgue. They were looking for it but they couldn’t find it. Right now we have to wait for the DNA results and then we need to look for the body.”

Mr. Cox said the family will have to decide its next move if the body is not located.

“The family will have to deal with the hospital. The administrator and the minister of health are going to have to answer to the family. I’ve practice for 40 years and I have had issues with the morgue. But in terms of someone’s body being misplaced, that’s never happened,” he said.

“We’ve had situations where a body would go in a morgue and then two days later it’s swollen, but this has never happened before.”

Calls were made to Acting Hospital Administrator Dorothy Hepburn and Health Minister Dr.
Perry Gomez but they were not immediately returned.