US: In a bizarre case of mistaken identity, a woman thought dead in a Christmas fire has turned out to be alive in a Massachusetts hospital, while another woman thought alive was cremated in her place.
The father of Ann Goyette thought that he was visiting his daughter in Massachusetts General Hospital a week after a tragic fire. When the woman's oxygen mask was removed Mr Goyette discovered it was not his daughter at all.
On regaining consciousness, the woman identified herself as Susan Anderson (38). For a week Ms Anderson's family had thought her dead: they had cremated a woman they presumed was her and were about to run an obituary in the local paper.
It now seems likely that due to an incorrect identification at the scene of the fire, Ann Goyette was mistaken for Ms Anderson and cremated in her place.
According to local authorities in the Massachusetts coastal fishing town of Gloucester, the mix-up most likely occurred before the women were brought to hospital. How the mix-up went a week without being discovered is being investigated.
On December 22nd, Ms Goyette and Ms Anderson had spent the night drinking with friends.
Local police Chief Michael McLeod told the Boston Herald the fire started when one of the drinking party threw a lit firecracker under a dry, unwatered Christmas tree. All but Ms Anderson and Ms Goyette made it out of the house.
Although blackened by smoke, neither woman had suffered disfiguring burns. That and a considerable difference in height makes the mix-up perplexing, say Gloucester locals.