Israel says Chilean officials switched bodies of women killed in accident

The Israeli Foreign Ministry blames Chilean officials for the apparent switching of the bodies of two Israeli women killed in a boating accident in Chile last week.

In a statement, the ministry says Israel’s consul in southern Chile accompanied the families of the victims to the funeral home in Punta Arenas, where the bodies were identified by family members and sent to the capital Santiago for shipment to Israel.

It was in Santiago, in the hands of Chilean officials responsible for handling the shipment of the bodies to Israel, that the identity documents of the women were apparently switched, the ministry says, sending the body of Glila Biton to the funeral of Dina Porat held today in the northern Tel Aviv suburb town of Rishpon. Porat’s funeral was delayed after the discovery of Biton’s body in the casket. Biton’s funeral is slated to take place in the coming days.

Israel’s embassy in Chile has launched a probe of the error with Chilean authorities.