A family grieving over the death of a loved one due to coronavirus cremated the wrong person, after a mix-up at the hospital.
The blunder at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey saw the wrong body released to Co-op Funeral Care, in Knaphill, Hampshire.
Loved ones paid their respects at the service after the unnamed man died.
But the wrong corpse was there at the cremation and the bungle wasn't realised for four days.
Their relative's corpse was still in the mortuary after he died from Covid-19 on Friday, May 22.
An investigation has been launched into how the mistake happened.
A source said: "Staff were sent to Frimley Park to pick him up.
"They needed him back quickly because he was being cremated two days later.
"They got to the hospital, and the procedure is, if they can have the least amount of contact with a deceased Covid-19 patient, they do that."
They added: "Because he was a Covid-19 patient, he would've been in a body bag and the staff would've both worn protective gear to open it up and put the labels on."
Normal procedure requires the date of birth and name on the outside bag to match what's on the NHS wristlet, its understood.
"No one knows how it could have happened," the source added.
The body was taken back to the mortuary in Hook.
Within 24 hours, the embalmer visited, checked if he had a pacemakers and jewellery.
The family watched the body come through the curtain and get cremated at 9.30am, on Thursday, June 4.
"But obviously that wasn't their relative in the coffin," the source said.
On Friday June 5, Frimley Park did their audit and found the body of the man, who was due for cremation, was still lying cold in their mortuary.
The source added: "They then rang and said 'We need that body, bring it back here'.
"But it was too late, they'd already been cremated the day before.
"The hospital told the funeral directors 'You've taken another person by mistake' and they had to tell them 'Sorry, the cremation was done yesterday'.
"You can't believe this has happened.
"They had to call the man's family, and the hospital approached the other one.
"I can't even imagine the pain they're going through, they've basically had to mourn twice.
"The family were furious, they have now cremated the right body for that family."
Co-op Funeralcare said in a statement: "This is an incredibly distressing situation and we would like to offer our sincerest regret and condolences to both families involved.
"Whilst it is the responsibility of hospital staff to identify and release the correct individual from their premises, these are exceptionally challenging times and we have supported Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust with an investigation.
"We are also continuing to support the families through this extremely difficult time."
James Taylor, from Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are deeply sorry for the distress this has caused for the families involved.
"We have offered them our sincere and unreserved apology and we will continue to support them.
"This incident is being investigated thoroughly to ensure lessons are learnt.
"Mistakes of this nature are extremely rare, but when they occur it is essential that we do all we can to make sure they do not happen again."
