An 18-year-old woman from Belleville, Ont. died this week while on a trip to Cuba to celebrate graduating high school, her family said Saturday.
Alex Sagriff was found unresponsive in her hotel room in Varadero, Cuba on Thursday night, her cousin Brock Tufts wrote to reporters on Saturday.
He suggested the circumstances surrounding her death are not yet clear.
“Alex was on a graduation trip, organized by the S-Trip company,” Tufts wrote. “Our concern right now is trying to get her home. We don’t know much of anything.”
S-Trip issued a statement confirming Sagriff’s death.
“Our deepest condolences go out to her family and loved ones. Dedicated resources of our organization have been made available to provide any and all possible support,” Officials from S-Trip wrote.
We are in continuous contact with the family and will be guided by their wishes during this enormously difficult time.”
The company says it sent its emergency response team to Varadero after receiving word of Sagriff’s death.
Most of her classmates have already returned to Canada, S-Trip says. The company says it is arranging grief counselling for Sagriff’s friends.
Global Affairs Canada said Friday night that it was providing consular assistance to the family of a person who had died in Cuba, but declined to offer any further details.
Sagriff’s father, Jim, wrote on Facebook that his daughter was accepted to Loyalist College in Belleville in the fall.
“You will do great thing and make new friends along the way,” he wrote.
