PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The body of a former member of the Canadian Parliament was found in the ruins of a Port-au-Prince hotel, his wife said Saturday.
Serge Marci, who represented Quebec in Parliament from 2000 to 2004 as a member of the Liberal Party, was in an elevator at the Hotel Montana when Port-au-Prince was rocked by a 7-magnitude earthquake Jan. 12, CTV reported. A U.N. team had said he had been rescued alive late last week, and his wife, Christiane Pelchat, only learned there had been a mistake when she arrived at a hospital in Miami.
"Serge was a gift life gave me," Pelchat said in a statement Saturday. "He was a humanist, a loving husband, caring, with a natural tenderness."
Marcil, 65, was a school administrator before becoming involved in politics, first in Quebec as a member of the provincial assembly and government and then in the federal Parliament.
More than 2,000 Canadians were in Haiti when the quake struck. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Saturday 17 were known to be dead, 1,939 had been found and most of them evacuated, and 236 remained missing.
"The days ahead will not be easy for Canadians who are without news of their loved ones," Cannon said. "Our thoughts are with all of those families and friends affected by this unprecedented disaster."
