Airline workers at JFK Airport left two bodies in coffins bound for Pakistan in a loading area — and then forgot about them, according to published reports.
The bodies were supposed to be loaded onto the Oct. 28 Pakistan International Airlines flight between New York City and Lahore, which was set to be the company’s last direct run between the cities, according to the BBC.
Airline officials believe the workers loading the plane removed the coffins from the aircraft to make room for tea bags, plastic forks and napkins, and then neglected to put the caskets back on board, according to another report by the Pakistan-based news agency Dawn.
Since PIA no longer runs that route, Etihad Airways picked up the slack and brought the bodies back to Pakistan so their aggrieved families could collect them, the BBC report said.
PIA released a statement saying that it “regrets the inconvenience caused due to negligence on part of the airline’s ground handling agency and expresses its sympathies with the family members of the deceased persons.” The airline added that it would pay all additional costs associated with transporting the bodies.