Victoria Falls — A Chinotimba family buried the body of a two-year-old boy belonging to another family after mistaking it for that of their late child.

The two-year-old boys died in separate incidents at around the same time and were both placed in the mortuary at Chinotimba District Hospital. It is believed that the mix-up happened when collecting the bodies when one of the families did not check which body they had picked up.

Sources said the family could have thus simply collected the coffin without verifying who was in it. The police officer commanding Victoria Falls Chief Superintendent Regis Munyaradzi confirmed the mix-up and said investigations had been initiated to establish what really happened. "I can only confirm the incident but we are still to get a full report," he said. Sources at Chinotimba District Hospital said the deaths occurred on Sunday.

"One family was quick in making its funeral arrangements and on Tuesday they collected a body and buried it at Chinotimba Cemetery. "After the burial they went home and continued with their lives," she said. The source said the second family went to the hospital to collect what was supposed to be the body of their child on Wednesday.

"They were confused and angry when staff gave them the body of someone else's child. "The family asked the hospital authorities for an explanation and the authorities recalled that a body of the same age was released to another family a day earlier. They then made a police report to notify them that an exhumation would be required," she said.

Police are said to have had a meeting with both families and it was agreed that an exhumation would have to be done. "After that they all headed to the cemetery and the body that had been buried was exhumed in the presence of the two families and a doctor. "It was then confirmed that the first family had buried the wrong body. The grieving families were then given the correct bodies."