THE father of a 19-year-old Selkirk man who died in mysterious circumstances in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last week said he's not optimistic that information will emerge about the nature of his son's fatality at the popular vacation destination.
Josh Iwasiuk was a guest at the Getaway Resort in the western Mexican city when he allegedly fell from the 10th floor of a resort building, according to reports given by hotel staff to Iwasiuk's older brother, who was also in Mexico.
Josh Iwasiuk: Died in Mexico
A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada said Tuesday they're liaising with Mexican authorities about the investigation into the young man's death. However, Jerry Iwasiuk expressed doubt it will explain the tragedy, adding the information released to the family has been extremely limited so far.
"We made some phone calls and I've been talking to (Foreign Affairs Canada) but you don't get much out of them. All they say is the investigation is ongoing. But you don't get any answers," said the grieving father.
Twenty-eight-year-old Jerry Iwasiuk Jr. -- Josh's older brother -- was also a guest at the resort and had last seen his sibling Saturday afternoon when the two were drinking at a hotel bar. Iwasiuk Jr. said that was before a hotel security member took him to a room he was sharing with his brother, where he fell asleep, intoxicated.
The next morning, after Iwasiuk Jr. awoke, hotel staff told him his brother was found dead on the ground 10 floors beneath their room's balcony. It's a claim Iwasiuk Jr. said he found dubious due to the chest-level height of the resort's balconies and information relayed to the family by the Canadian consulate in Mexico that Josh's only serious injury was trauma to the back of his head.
"I don't think he fell by accident. The height of the railing on the balcony? I don't see it. If somebody stumbled into it, you'd fall down, but you'd have to jump to get over it," Iwasiuk Jr. told the Free Press Monday.
Iwasiuk Sr. said his son's body will arrive back in Canada this Sunday and the family is considering having an independent autopsy done. A funeral is planned for next Tuesday.
"All the information we've got is very vague," said Iwasiuk Sr. "I'm hoping his body comes back the way we said we want it to come back, and that it isn't cremated."
Christiane Theberge, president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agents, said the Iwasiuk family should be able to pressure the Canadian government into pressing the investigation forward on foreign soil. She said the country receives almost one million Canadian tourists per year, making it Canadians' second-most popular foreign destination.
gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca
-- with files from Canwest News Service
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