FedEx 'apologises' three years after losing a dead body in mail

FedEx tweeted an apology in response to an article about the company losing a box of human remains three years ago.

On Thursday the Atlanta Journal-Constitutionpublished an article about the Merriweather family who have been grappling with the loss of their son Jeffrey Merriweather and the loss of his remains due to an error when shipped with FedEx.

Three years ago, Merriweather's skeletal remains were found two weeks after he was last seen alive. To conduct further testing the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office sent a FedEx box of the remains to a a St. Louis lab.

But the 18.6 pound box never arrived.

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Once the article was tweeted, an automated response from FedEx's Twitter seemingly sprung into action saying, "I am truly sorry you went through this experience. Please send us a direct message so I can further assist you. - Gaby."

The tweet was deleted by FedEx.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, how Merriweather's remains ended up in a FedEx box is a mystery. FedEx prohibits service and shipments involving human remains and typically remains are transported by air.

The Merriweather family lost 32-year-old Jeffery unexpectedly and having his remains missing is a "nightmare you can’t wake up from,” according to Kathleen Merriweather, the mother to Jeffery Merriweather.

"Our thoughts and concerns continue to be with the family of Mr. Merriweather. We request that further questions be directed to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office.” FedEx said.

Although FedEx's poorly-timed tweet was deleted, screenshots of the exchange circulated on Friday, sparking further backlash and mockery from people.

Several Twitter users who commented underneath the article used keywords picked up by the FedEx automated response, starting a chain of responses.

In response to the issue, a spokesperson for FedEx said, "We deleted several company responses to this tweet that were made in error. We apologize for the mistake and are committed to preventing this type of issue from occurring again."

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