A funeral home has been accused of gross incompetence after two grieving parents found a bag containing black trousers and underwear in their infant daughter’s coffin instead of her body.

The blunder was discovered at the deceased newborn’s wake in the town of Turvo in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina on Monday, 25th October.

The coffin was meant to contain the body of Emanuelle Costa Rosa, who died after being born prematurely on the same morning.

The Instituto Virmond – Hospital Santa Tereza in the city of Guarapuava has pointed the finger of blame at the funeral home, which was not named in reports.

As reported in the news outlet Portal RSN, the COO of the hospital, Michel Cunha, said: “The body was prepared and duly identified.

“The funeral home was meant to take it to the wake. But the undertaker, on entering the morgue, came across a transparent bag with black clothes and no identification.

“And out of pure distraction, he convinced himself it was the baby and took it to the town as if it were the baby. Meanwhile, the child remained in the morgue, wrapped in raffia and duly identified with tags.”

According to reports, the parents only became aware of the mixup after they removed the lid of the coffin during the wake to show their daughter her sister.

Inside, they found the see-through plastic bag containing black trousers and underwear.

Cunha said: “We only found out about the funeral home’s mistake through social media and the news. We did a quick analysis and followed all the hospital protocols, but the funeral home committed a human error.

“The baby weighed 860 grammes (1.9 lbs), far from what a pair of trousers and underwear would weigh.”

The clothes reportedly belonged to another deceased person in the morgue.

The girl’s burial had to be postponed by a day, and it took place on Tuesday, 26th October.

As of that day, the funeral home was expected to make a statement on the incident. It is not clear if they have yet done so.