Six decades on, Dutch pair discover real parents

Two babies had been switched at birth. Photo / Thinkstock

Two 60-year-old men in the Dutch city of Breda had an emotional meeting after a DNA test proved they had been mixed up as babies and given to the wrong mothers in 1953.

Martino Kerremans and Jan Koevoets were swapped in the city's Ignatius Hospital more than six decades ago when each was handed back to the wrong parents.

"I can barely believe it," said Kerremans. "First you come to the frightening discovery that your parents have not been your real parents all these years. And you also find your biological family. Incredible."

After his parents died recently, Kerremans, who was born on February 3, 1953, decided to act on his mother's half-joking claims that she had brought the wrong baby home.

Following a DNA test last month with two of his sisters he learned that his mother's story was true, leading to a campaign by the local Omroep Brabant newspaper to find his real family.

Antoon Koevoets saw a picture of Kerremans in the paper and noticed a strong resemblance. He persuaded his brother Jan, a barber who was born on February 4, 1953, to take DNA tests with Mr Kerremans and his sisters, leading to the discovery that the two men had been exchanged at birth.

Jan Koevoets said: "Usually I try to laugh everything away. But this is hard for me. Deep down inside, I would have much preferred that this had not happened."