Coffins at cemeteries in Russia's western Siberian city of Novosibirsk are "wandering", a spokesman for a local funeral museum said on Thursday.

"In most cases of exhumation at Novosibirsk cemeteries, coffins are found at least 1.5 to 10 meters away from the burial site," the statement said.

An investigation held by the museum revealed that loose soil and water was to blame.

The problem came to light after the first crematorium opened in Novosibirsk and people asked for the exhumation of their relatives' bodies in order to cremate them.

"During the exhumation, relatives identify the body only from the clothes or personal items...When it is impossible to identify the body...the relatives receive the remains found directly under the grave, but some of them may belong to another person," the museum cited Novosibirsk undertaker, Rodion Yakushin, as saying.

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 26 (RIA Novosti)