An extraordinary and deeply distressing incident occurred in Serres, northern Greece, when the family of a man who died at the city’s general hospital arrived to collect his body—only to be handed the wrong corpse.
According to reports, the body of an 86-year-old resident of Serres was mistakenly mixed up with that of a 79-year-old man from Xanthi, who had also passed away at the same hospital on the same day. The two patients died just hours apart: the Serres resident at 5:22 p.m. on 6 July 2026 in the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Xanthi resident at 1:44 a.m. on the same date in the Intensive Care Unit.
Relatives of the Xanthi man visited the morgue the following morning (7 July) and formally identified and collected what they believed to be their loved one. Later that afternoon (8 July), the Serres family came to collect their relative’s body—but immediately expressed shock upon seeing the remains, insisting it was not their father. The daughter reportedly told hospital staff, “This is not my father.”
The family contacted police, filed a formal complaint, and their lawyer has announced plans to request judicial permission to exhume the body buried in a Muslim cemetery in Xanthi—based on strong suspicions it may actually be their own relative.
Hospital Response
In response, the administration of the General Hospital of Serres launched an urgent Enforced Administrative Inquiry (EDE) to determine responsibility for the error. In its official statement, the hospital confirmed the timeline of both deaths and acknowledged the misidentification during the identification process.
It noted that relatives of the Xanthi man initially affirmed the identification—and that the burial had already taken place on 8 July. Hospital officials have since asked them to return for a second formal identification of the body still held at the hospital.
The hospital expressed deep sorrow over the anguish caused to both families and reaffirmed its commitment to full transparency, legal compliance, and respect for the deceased and their loved ones.