Spare a thought for a family transporting a corpse home to New Zealand for burial who learned the body had been lost in transit.

The Samoa Observer reported human error was to blame for the mix-up when a defective plane caused flights to be rescheduled.

A container with the body was left at Apia airport instead of being put on the Air New Zealand flight with the dead man's family.

The error was discovered an hour after flight NZ61 had left.

"It appears to have been negligence," Polynesian Airlines executive Taua Lialialefao Fatu Tielu, told the Samoa Observer.

A search located it and it was flown to New Zealand the next day.