ST. JOHN'S — The family of a Newfoundland man is overjoyed, yet bewildered, after discovering he hadn't been killed in a train accident after all.
Police in Toronto had identified Dane Squires as the man killed while crossing the track of a Toronto GO train last Friday.
But, during Thursday's funeral in Toronto, Squires called his daughter Trina to report he was alive and well.
"We've been mourning in Newfoundland and in Toronto, everywhere in total shock," says Dane's brother Gilbert of St. Philip's.
"They just loaded Dane's body in the hearse and the funeral director comes and says somebody would like to speak to you on the phone and Dane's daughter Trina took the phone. This was Dane on the phone, so she actually thought that she was dead or talking to a ghost or something and just about lost her mind," he says.
Squires says it's not unusual for his brother, who stays with his sister in Toronto, to visit friends for four or five days and then come back.
His brother didn't realize there was any problem until he read his own obituary in the newspaper.
Squires says his brother is taking his "death" with good humour.
"He said, 'I've got a new name. I haven't decided what it's going to be'. And I said what would that be and he said, 'I'm either going to call myself Lazarus or Jesus.'"
Toronto police had appealed to the public to assist them in identifying the body. They issued a release saying an identification had been made after a family member contacted them and identified the body. Police are now looking for the true identity of the victim.
Squires says the family has not got an explanation from the police about how this could have happened. He says it's premature to consider if the family will take action.
Squires describes what happened to his brother as "something out of a Stephen King movie or a book."
