SHANGHAI, May 29 -- A driver from China's Sichuan Province might be the unluckiest person in China so far this year – he was first killed by a tire on his truck when it exploded in his face and then his body was wrongly cremated as someone else.

The body of the 47-year-old Hu Gonggui was found next to his truck which was parked on a highway connecting Southwest China's Guizhou Province and Chongqing Municipality on May 23.

Doctors said Hu's death was caused by serious head injuries and blood loss, Chongqing Evening Post said today.

The truck was loaded with 55.3 tons of coal which was at least 40 tons above its recommended limit of 13.5 tons.

Police ruled out robbery and murder or traffic accident. After surveying the scene and speaking to the man's wife and nephew, police believed the man was killed by an exploding tire of his truck

"Its huge blast may have killed the driver when he was trying to examine the tires," police said.

However, while Hu's family was waiting for a final conclusion to the man's mysterious death, they were informed that his body was wrongly cremated on Saturday.

"They told me my husband was thought to be another man who died in a road accident," Hu's wife told the newspaper.

The son of Qi Chaogang, the road accident victim mistaken for Hu, doubted the appearance of his father's body.

"But a worker in the funeral home told me it's normal for the body to differ a little after experiencing a severe road accident," said the son.

Huang Changping, head of the funeral home at Qijiang County, Chongqing, explained to the newspaper that the two bodies were put in two neighboring ice drawers.

"Handwritings on their identification cards were blurred due to extremely low temperatures," Huang said.

Hu's family has got 20,000 yuan (US$2,614.38) of compensation and the funeral house dropped the cremation charge. The other victim's family was given 5,000 yuan as satisfaction.