Devastating loss: The surviving family members Joseph (left) and his eldest son, Xavier.
Father forced to prepare remains of wife and child killed in landslide
KOTA KINABALU: For undertaker Aristotle Jude Joseph, grief came with a cruel twist.
The 41-year-old from Kampung Mook faced the most painful task of his life when he was forced to prepare the remains of his own wife and son.
Joseph lost his wife, Emily Johnny, a 38-year-old healthcare assistant, and their 11-year-old son, Xarell Myre, when a landslide struck their home during the weekend’s torrential rain.
“I work as an undertaker. I have handled many bodies in my life, but I never imagined I would have to clean and prepare the remains of my own wife and child,” he said, his voice breaking.
Joseph and his eldest son, Xavier Junior, 17, survived the tragedy.
Recalling the fateful Monday morning, he said he had woken early to do the laundry while the rest of the family was still asleep.
“It was nearly 9am. My wife and Xarell were in our room and Xavier in another. Moments later, the ground gave way and tonnes of earth came crashing into our home,” he said.
Joseph remembered hearing his youngest son’s faint cries as the debris buried them alive.
“I could still hear him choking, gasping for breath... then there was silence. That silence will haunt me forever,” he said.
Pinned down, Joseph freed his trapped leg and managed to escape with Xavier’s help. But Emily and Xarell were still inside.
“My son pulled me out and begged me to run. I survived, but I regret it... if I could turn back time, I would have stayed and tried to free them,” he said, his voice hoarse from shouting their names.
A video showing Joseph pleading for help went viral.
“I really lost it then. I begged for anyone with an excavator to come,” he said, adding that his in-laws’ home was also submerged in the tragedy.
When rescuers found the remains some five hours later, Emily was cradling Xarell in a final act to shield him from the rubble.
In tears, Joseph described removing stones from his son’s mouth and gently cleaning him, while Emily’s face had darkened from drowning.
“I was too late. If I could turn back time, I would not have left them. But my eldest son begged me to get out. He forced me to survive,” he said softly.
Now, father and son are left only with memories of their family home, which was flattened when the hillside gave way about 200m above their village.
“This kind of loss... once it happens, nothing can ever bring them back,” he said.
