The family actual relative also died a few days later of COVID-19. (Representational)
A family in Thane city of Maharashtra accidentally cremated the body of the wrong man after a goof-up at the hospital treating COVID-19 patients, officials said.
The matter came to light after the ceremony, when the actual relatives of the man who was cremated reached the hospital and claimed he was missing.
On July 3, a family from Kopri in Thane was informed by the Global Hub Covid Hospital that their 67-year-old relative had died of coronavirus and a body was handed over to them in a sealed bag as per COVID-19 protocols, following which the cremation was organised.
However, on July 5, another family reached the hospital in search of their 72-year-old relative who was admitted for COVID-19 treatment there on June 29.
After investigation, it was revealed that the 72-year-old had died and his body was handed over to the wrong family which cremated the man, officials said. The family's actual relative was, however, alive and still in the hospital.
The family members said that they were shocked when they got a call from the newly inaugurated 1,000-bed hospital on Monday, saying that their relative was alive and was being treated in the ICU.
"A probe by a civic team found that the relatives of this family in Kopri was alive and under treatment at a COVID facility. The hospital has said the goof-up was a result of case papers of the two patients getting mixed up," an official said.
The family's joy, however, was short-lived when their relative also died of the infection late on Tuesday night, a senior civic official said.
Chief of the BJP Thane city unit and MLC Niranjan Davkhare criticised the TMC administration for the lapses.