Mounties' bodies to be returned from Haiti

The bodies of two RCMP officers who died in last week's earthquake in Haiti will be returned to Canada on Friday.

The RCMP said in a release Wednesday that the bodies of Supt. Doug Coates and Sgt. Mark Gallagher will arrive at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., in the afternoon.

Coates, who lived in Gatineau, Que., and was based at the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, was the most senior RCMP officer in Haiti. He had devoted much of his career to making Haiti a more peaceful and stable place.

Coates's body was found in the rubble of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince on Saturday following the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Gallagher held posts throughout the Maritimes during his career, including in Moncton, N.B.

He was in Port-au-Prince as part of a UN training force when the earthquake hit. His body was found last Thursday in rubble of the building where he had been living.

Gallagher had lived in Halifax, and acted as the RCMP spokesman for Halifax and the New Brunswick cities of Moncton and Bathurst until he left for Haiti. His family is in New Brunswick, where Gallagher had been scheduled to return and resume work with the force.