cemetery (illustration)
cemetery (illustration)Flash 90

The funeral of one of the victims of a boating accident in Chile was postponed at the last moment after it was found that the wrong body had been sent for burial.

Dina Porat was one of two Israelis who died when a boat capsized in a river in southern Chile last month, was due to be buried in the Rishpon cemetery Tuesday afternoon.

Just before the funeral began, however, that the body that was brought to the cemetery was not Porat's, but that of Galila Biton, who was also killed in the accident.

About 100 people had turned out to attend Porat's funeral before the mix-up was discovered.

The funeral was postponed due to the mistake and will be held tomorrow.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in response to the mistake: "The Israeli consul in Chile, who accompanied the event from the moment the disaster was announced, was present together with the representatives of the families of the deceased in the funeral home in Punta Arenas and together with them for the identification of the victims and the signing of the coffins. The coffins were flown to Chile's capital Santiago on their last trip to Israel. Apparently it was local officials responsible for the flight who mixed the flight documents of the victims."

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses regret over the distress caused to the families, and the Israeli ambassador to Chile immediately checked the entire process with the local authorities in Chile and their responsibility for the mishap," the ministry said.