Distraught relatives were last night trying to come to terms with the death of University of Hong Kong student Joseph 'Joey' Basha after it emerged that his body was found slumped in a public toilet near his home, 48 hours before he was reported missing.
Friends and family were informed of his death only yesterday - four days after they told police Basha was missing and six days after his body was found in Yau Ma Tei, a 20-minute walk from his flat in Jordan.
Basha's sister Jacqueline Berenson, a forensic psychiatrist, and her husband, Alex Berenson, a novelist and former New York Times journalist, arrived from New York on Monday night with plans to search the city's hospitals.
'Jacky's in terrible shape right now,' Alex Berenson said yesterday.
Jacqueline Berenson declined to comment, but her younger sister, Cindy Basha, reported the news of their brother's death on Facebook.
'I regret to say that my brother, my beautiful, talented, sweet brother, was found dead,' her notice read. 'My brother, my best friend and hero, was found last Wednesday ... My brother was so loved and had such a significant impact on all of those who knew him. This was such a tremendous loss for us all.'
Basha, a 25-year-old Canadian who had been living in Hong Kong for three years, was found by a cleaner around noon on Wednesday in a public toilet in Market Street, Yau Ma Tei. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.