A hospital in Minnesota issued an apology on Wednesday after mishandling a stillborn baby whose body was located in linens that had been sent to a laundry service off the premises.

According to ABC Local, Regions Hospital in St. Paul officials stated that the baby's remains were wrapped in linens inside the hospital morgue and were mistaken for laundry that needed to be sent out for cleaning.

The unidentified baby's body was found Tuesday by an employee of the laundry service.

"This was a terrible mistake, and we are deeply sorry. We have processes in place that should have prevented this but did not. We are working to identify the gap in our system, and to make sure this does not happen again," hospital chief nursing officer Chris Boese said via a statement.

Boese also said that officials of the hospital were still attempting to reach out to the baby's family in order to determine what went wrong.

However, Boese stated that patient privacy laws prevented her from revealing whether or not the baby's family had a preference.

"We are really sorry and saddened that this event happened. This has never happened before that I am aware of, this unfortunate event," she said.

The hospital stated that the late baby was stillborn on April 4, at 22 weeks of development.

The police said that there was no evidence of foul play involved, but the Ramsey County medical examiner's office was expected to closely examine the child's remains.

Tags: offbeat