Wrong body returned from Iraq

[leftchick]

Wrong body returned from Iraq


April 27, 2006

THE body of the first Australian soldier to be killed in Iraq was scheduled to arrive in Melbourne this morning, but in an extraordinary bungle the wrong body has been returned.

Macquarie Radio says family and friends of Private Jake Kovco were at Melbourne Airport waiting for his body, which is due to be given a service in Gippsland with full military honours.

But the coffin that arrived in Melbourne this morning contained the wrong body.

At this stage it's unclear where the mix-up occurred, but Private Kovco's family are still waiting for his return.

The 25-year-old private accidentally shot himself while cleaning his weapon in Baghdad on Friday.

He was a member of the 110-strong security detachment in Iraq's capital to protect Australian officials.


http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18944322-5001028,00.html

I can not believe the Aussies are still there. :(

[AlCzervik]

1. Horrible--and "accidentally shot himself"?

[htuttle]

2. Wonder who's body it WAS?

?

[babylonsister]

3. Makes me wonder how often these 'mix-ups' occur. nt

[Chimichurri]

4. The incompetence is astounding.

How sad for the family.

I think about why this has to happen and when I consider what is going on, my blood boils. Bush and his cohorts should be hung by their balls. Those without balls, ie. Condi, Rummy, should be given a defective rifle, no body armor and dropped off in the middle of Iraq - as they did to the blackwater mercinaries - leave them to travel without a map!

[rodeodance]

5. perhaps because they only have had one death? (and blown up body)

just a thought

......I can not believe the Aussies are still there. :(

[FloridaPat]

6. There was a similar story a couple years ago. A family was told

not to open the coffin because the body had been in the Iraqi heat for several days and was in too bad a shape. The were white and had a son. The body went to the mortuary and they decided to open it anyway. It was a black female.

[Kagemusha]

7. So the story is he cleaned his rifle with a round chambered?

Um, yikes.

[suffragette]

8. starting to get even odder

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18944401-29277,00.html

The Australian soldier who died in Iraq was not cleaning his pistol at the time he was killed as has been reported, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today.

~snip~

"He wasn't in fact cleaning his weapon.

"It was near him in his vicinity and he made some kind of movement which suggests that it discharged.

"There was obviously a live round in it which there should not have been and that's as much as I should probably say at the moment."

hmmm
:freak:

[Kagemusha]

10. Sounds like clear-cut suicide.

And I had only assumed that he'd had a rifle and not a pistol.

[One Honest Guy]

11. Or someone blew his head off. Like a "buddy".

[rocktivity]

13. He "made some kind of movement" which "suggests" his pistol discharged?

Such as putting it to his head and pulling the trigger, perhaps?

:cry:
rocknation

[suffragette]

14. Yeah, I found that an odd comment, too

And indicative of something else being awry.
How devastating all this must be to his family.
:cry:

[sakabatou]

9. That's just sick...

[Haole Girl]

12. Guess we'll see another Pat Tillman type of mystery

again?