France's RFI public radio apologised Monday for mistakenly publishing obituaries for a number of celebrities still very much alive, including Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Brazilian football hero Pele.
Citing a "technical problem" that caused the death notices to be released on its website Monday, the broadcaster said: "We offer our apologies to the people concerned and to you who follow and trust us.
"We are mobilising to rectify this major bug," said the Twitter account of RFI, which saw itself the target of much online derision for the error.
Others RFI declared dead included Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former US President Jimmy Carter, Cuban leader Raul Castro, actors Clint Eastwood, Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot -- all in their 80s and 90s.
French business mogul Bernard Tapie, 77, whose obituary had been prematurely published by other news outlets at least twice before, was also on the RFI list.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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