Family discovers wrong body after taking it home for burial

• Mix-up discovered when they were to perform traditional bathing customs before burial

By Sumanasiri Gunatilaka 

The misidentification of two bodies at the Monaragala General Hospital resulted in considerable inconvenience to relatives. 

The body of a man was mistakenly handed over from the hospital mortuary instead of that of a 75-year-old woman from Elapotha Muslim Village in Badalkumbura yesterday morning. 

The woman’s relatives said that the body handed over to them had been covered with a white cloth and that they had taken it to her residence. They said they removed the cloth to bathe the body, in accordance with their customs before burial, only to discover that it was the body of a man. 

They subsequently returned the body to the hospital mortuary and collected the correct body. 

A senior hospital official said it was the responsibility of the relatives to identify the body before taking it over.