Death and Dying in Chile

This weekend has been anything but restful. I'm wearing the dual hats of back-up American Citizen Services officer during the holidays and also the Embassy duty officer this week. So when the marines called around 11:30 p.m on Friday night, the ringing phone on my bed-side table wasn't a surprise. However, the caller was a stressed American woman who had returned to her apartment and found her roommate dead in the bathroom of carbon monoxide asphyxiation from the water heater.

I have spent the last 36 hours or so speaking with the police, Chilean authorities, friends, and the airline station manager here and with shocked, devastated family members in the U.S. It hasn't been easy, but hopefully I am able to provide some comfort and semblance of assistance to the family. This afternoon I'll probably go with the roommate and a friend to the mortuary to identify the woman and help coordinate arrangements with the funeral service here to return her home to the U.S. soon.

The sad thing was that the woman was getting ready to fly home to the U.S. on Friday night, and her family was expectantly waiting for her return. My heart goes out to the family.

We had company over for lunch yesterday afternoon, and it was a little hard to focus on them with so much else on my mind.

My wife has been a tremendous support to me.