Number spikes from last month's report claiming around 211 were wrong.
Dakota Linck, 11, from Lebanon, Tenn., visits the grave of his brother, Staff Sgt., Henry W. Linck, Saturday in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Section 60 is where many fallen soldiers from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflict are buried. The estimated number of mixed-up graves at the Arlington National Cemetery has spiked in the past month and could now be as high as 6,600, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said at a hearing.
That comes in at a much higher estimate than last month, where reports claimed that about 211 graves may be wrongly labeled.
The investigation into the grave mix-ups found that it was primarily due to lax management of the grave site and the use of paper records to keep track of plots, the New York Post reported.
The former superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, John Metzler, told NPR that he "accepts full responsibility” for the mix-up of the graves over the 19 years that he ran the cemetery. He also said he wanted to express his “sincere regrets to the families” affected by the mix-ups.
Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 300,000 people interred with military honors. Around 30 funerals occur at the cemetery each day, according to Fox News.