Pet store expects fish shipment, but gets corpse

updated 8:35 p.m. ET March 10, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - Employees of a Philadelphia pet store expecting to get a shipment of tropical fish and salt water by air cargo ended up getting a human body instead. Mark Arabia owns the Pets Plus store in Northeast Philadelphia where the mix-up was discovered Tuesday.

He said he eventually learned that the body he got was that of a 65-year-old San Diego-area man who died of early onset Alzheimer's disease. The body was supposed to go to a laboratory in Allentown so samples could be taken for medical research.

US Airways released a statement saying the problem was caused by a "verbal miscommunication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative." The airline said it's deeply sorry.

Arabia said he believes the fish died as a result.

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