It was a feature on alternatives to burial but the l-orizzont story ended up being an exercise in bad taste after a photo of a Nazi crematorium was used.

The feature that appeared in yesterday’s edition asked people for their thoughts on cremation and the extension of cemeteries, continuing a debate that started some months ago.

We apologise for this mistake

But one of the two photos illustrating the double-page spread was that of the crematorium in Dachau, one of several death camps from World War II.

The Nazi camp (seen in 1945, left) is close to Munich in Bavaria and is now a memorial where visitors can pay respects.

The vox pop did not mention the Nazi ovens where the bodies of Jews who had just been gassed were burnt. Sandro Mangion, editor-in-chief at l-orizzont publishers Union Print, said the publication of the Dachau ovens photo instead of a commercial crematorium was an oversight.

“The wrong photo was used and we apologise for this genuine mistake,” he said.

Mr Mangion added “unfortunate mistakes” like this happened to all newspapers, noting that, some weeks ago, Times of Malta had its own blooper when it published the photo of former European commissioner John Dalli instead of the ex-Labour MP with the same name.

The mistake was made when a photo of the Dachau crematorium was used with a l-orizzont article on different options to burial.