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Family's grief doubles as wrong body returned from Iraq
 Pvt. Jake Kovco, 25, died in an accidental shooting in Baghdad on April 21. SPECIAL REPORT
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SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- In what Australia's defense minister has called an "unacceptable, terrible mistake," the body of the first Australian soldier to die in Iraq has been left behind in Kuwait. Instead, the wrong body was loaded onto a commercial flight that arrived in the southern city of Melbourne early Thursday. Private Jake Kovco, 25, died in Baghdad on April 21 when his weapon accidentally discharged. The blunder left his widow, Shelley Kovco, distressed and had Defense Minister Brendan Nelson demanding answers over the mix-up. (Watch Kovco's mother demand, 'I want my baby' -- 2:35) Nelson ordered Kovco's body be brought home immediately -- by private charter, if necessary. Nelson said he was told by Australian army chief Lt. Gen. Peter Leahy that because of a mistake in Kuwait, the wrong casket had been loaded onto a commercial flight, which landed in Melbourne just after midnight. "Gen. Leahy and I flew to Sale (Kovco's hometown in Victoria state) and informed the Kovco family immediately. They were understandably distressed," Nelson said in a statement. "The cause of this unacceptable, terrible mistake will be the subject of a thorough investigation," he said. "No stone will be left unturned to get to the bottom of this." Nelson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that Australian Prime Minister John Howard took a call from Mrs. Kovco when she was told of the mix-up. Howard said later on Australian radio that Mrs. Kovco was "very angry" and wanted everything done to get her husband's body home as soon as possible. He said her distress and anger were "totally understandable." "I want Mrs. Kovco to know that on behalf of the Government we are desperately sorry for what's occurred. We'll find out what happened," Howard told Melbourne's Radio 3AW. Kovco was serving with with the Operation Catalyst Security Detachment in Baghdad. He had been in Iraq since March and was attached to the Sydney-based 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. Australia, a close ally of the United States, sent 2,000 troops to take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It currently has about 1,300 troops in and around Iraq, including a task force of 450 soldiers who are protecting Japanese military engineers engaged in humanitarian work in southern Iraq. Two other Australians, both journalists, have died in the Iraq conflict. Last year, a dual Australia-British citizen serving in Britain's Royal Air Force, Flight Lt. Paul Pardoel, died when his transport aircraft crashed near Baghdad. 
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