A grieving family at St Euphemia Greek Orthodox Church in Bankstown, Sydney, opened the casket at their loved one’s funeral only to find the wrong person inside.
Their relative had already been buried by another family at Rookwood Cemetery at a service in Belmore and needed to be exhumed.
The funeral director choked back tears, apologising for his mistake – an accident.
“If I could turn back time, naturally I would. I’m extremely apologetic for what has been inflicted on them (the families),” he told 2GB radio.
“I wouldn’t want this to happen to me. It was an error. Among the many thousands of funerals we have done this was an error and now the family are traumatised due to us”.
“We are guilty as charged at the end of the day and I am so sorry.”
He said staff were also devastated.