SEOUL– Hundreds of foreign passports, including those belonging to 31 South Koreans, have been incinerated in China after a staff member at the quarantine facility mistook them for garbage, a source said Tuesday.

Chinese authorities had collected the passports from the passengers after their arrival in Beijing from Incheon, west of Seoul, on June 4 for documentation purposes before they entered the three-week mandatory coronavirus quarantine at a designated hotel.

The authorities later confirmed that the passports were burned along with other trash by mistake, the source said. A staff member apparently thought that the plastic bag carrying the passports was for disposal.

A foreign ministry official in Seoul said the government took swift steps to provide necessary assistance to the South Korean citizens.

“We immediately reissued their passports and completed the process of reissuing the visas and other documents in consultation with Beijing so as to minimize the inconvenience for our people,” the official said.

The South Korean Embassy in Beijing has lodged a protest with the Chinese side over the incident, and China expressed an apology.

The Chinese authorities have offered to cover the quarantine costs and waive the fees for issuing the visas.

Source: Yonhap News Agency