Kovco - Wrong Body Halliburton Contractor

The body sent to Australia in the place of a fallen soldier was that of a Halliburton contractor from Bosnia. The Kellogg, Brown and Root employee was finally buried last Friday, a month after he died.

Halliburton have indicated that they will pay compensation to the family of Juso Sunanovic, who the company claims died of a brain hemorrage while playing table tennis in Iraq.

The revelation is the latest in a situation filled with procedural errors. Pte Jake Kovco's body was moved from the scene of death before MP inspection on orders from the commander of Australian armed forces in Iraq despite an MP command that the location remain undisturbed for investigation purposes. After being ceremonially escorted to a waiting plaine, his body was accidentally substituted with that of the Halliburton employee.

A report of the incident was accidentally left by an Australian Brigadier at Melbourne airport, from where it felll into the hands of a local journalist.

A relative of the fallen Australian soldier, who works in the funeral industry, took care of the contractor's body until he was returned to his homeland.

Kovco's mother-in-law and father-in-law and Sunanovic's daughter have shared condolences this week on a Melbourne community radio station. Melbournes Radio for the Print Handicapped arranged for the two to talk.

We have thought of you a lot over the time and we know you're feeling the same way we are," David Small told Jasmina Sunanovic.

"And I think your Dad would just want you to get on with it. You know, do what you have to do and the same with your mother.

"Shelley (Pte Kovco's widow) will be all right and her two kids will be all right, but we just hope it doesn't happen to anyone again."