Family wake for Irma victim, Melan, tonight

Although her remains are yet to arrive on local shores, Melan June Salvary-Doyle’s family yesterday said she would be buried at the D’Abadie Public Cemetery after a funeral service at Allen’s Funeral Chapel, in Arima.

The bodies of Salvary-Doyle–the first Trinidadian confirmed dead in the wake of Hurricane Irma’s onslaught on St Martin, more than one week ago–and her three-year-old grandson, Oliver Robert-Gedio, are currently in Guadeloupe where autopsies where scheduled to be performed.

After the autopsy, her remains are expected to be flown to Trinidad for burial.

However, it is unclear as to whether her grandson, who was born in St Martin, will also be buried in this country.

Salvary-Doyle and her grandson were swept away in raging waters while trying to seek shelter from the storm which slammed into St Martin as a category five hurricane on September 6.

The mother of six was taking care of the toddler at the home of her daughter, Daphne, when the tragedy occured. Daphne was not at her Rue Round The Pond French Quarters at the time of the incident as she was reportedly taking care of a newborn grand-daughter some distance away.

Yesterday, Salvary-Doyle’s sister, Emily Pasqual, told Sunday Newsday the family still had not received any word from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about when her body would be returned to Trinidad.

“We have not heard anything new but we were told that the autopsy would take about one week. The body was only flown to Guadeloupe on Thursday,” she said.

In the interim, Pasqual said a wake for Salvary-Doyle has been planned for tonight at her daughter, Jane Meyers’ home in Cunupia.

She said they were also planning a celebration of life for her on Friday but this will be dependent on confirmation of when her remains would arrive in Trinidad.

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"Family wake for Irma victim, Melan, tonight"

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