Family of Canadian survivor of Portobelo mudslide heading to Panama

 

alt(Newsroompanama.com) The children of Greg Coy, a Canadian who was seriously injured in a mudslide in Portobelo that killed his Panama family, will soon be in Colon to see their father.
 
The Canadian  Press  reports that they have cleared  diplomatic and financial hurdles blocking  efforts to visit him in a Panama where he is hospitalized with a crushed pelvis.
 
Daughter Kristin Coy said Foreign Affairs officials have informed her that previous restrictions that were preventing her and her brother from obtaining emergency passports have been relaxed.
 
Coy said she was told last week at the passport office in Winnipeg that she would have to book her airline tickets first, and that she would have to supply newspaper clippings or other proof that the disaster had taken place. But the passports were processed Monday
 
Kristin told Canadian Press from her Winnipeg, Manitoba home: “My dad said that he feels he’s not doing well. But he told us that he’s going to fight for us kids — he’s going to fight to stay alive,” Coy said from her Winnipeg home after speaking with her father by telephone Sunday.
 
Greg Coy suffered a crushed pelvis when his home and restaurant were swept away.
 
His Colmbian wife of two years, Susana Mureil, along with three of her family members were killed.
 
Donors have been pledging money to help the siblings pay the airfare to fly to Panama.
 
Kevin Lamoureux, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North, has been helping with the fundraising effort and said that it appeared close to $2,000 had been raised by Sunday afternoon. He said they were attempting to arrange a deal with airlines on compassionate grounds, and that a donor from Ontario had indicated that he’d like to help the family with a large donation.
 
After the slide, which followed days of heavy rain, Coy and Mureil were rescued from the debris by a close friend and neighbor, Rey Sanchez.
 
Sanchez said he tried to get the couple to the hospital in Colon, but the road was impassable, and the delay in getting medical care proved too long for Mureil.
 
Kristin Coy said that arrangements are being made to have the bodies of Mureil, her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter transported to Colombia, where Mureil was originally from.
 
************
Original Source: Newsroompanama.com
Date Retrieved: December 13, 2010.