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A family wrongly told by police that their son had died in a car crash were astounded when he answered the door at his home.

Justin Priest's devastated parents travelled 50 miles over Alaska to break the news to their son's girlfriend of five years, who he lived with.

But instead, a clearly bemused Justin answered the door to his father, who said: "It's Justin! Praise Jesus, we thought you were dead," the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

In a case of mistaken identity with tragic consequences, police told the Priests their son had died when in fact a completely unrelated 33-year-old named Justin Donald Priest was killed when his car crashed into a tree on Wednesday.

Justin said the sense of relief felt by all the family was tempered by the knowledge that another family had lost a son.

The 29-year-old biologist said he had no idea why his parents Jay and Karen and his brother Cody were crying at his front door at 5.30am.

After around half an hour of crying and hugging, they told him that around two hours earlier an Alaska State Trooper had arrived at their house to inform them of their son's death.

Jay described it as the 'saddest day in his 63 years'.

The chief of the Juneau Police Department in Alaska, Bryce Johnson, said he felt horrible about the accident and apologised to the family.

"He told me the story of what they went through and it left me in tears and speechless," he said.

The family of the real victim were notified on Thursday afternoon.

Jay Priest said: “I was shocked and astonished and had to keep grabbing him and hugging him. The saddest day became the happiest. I never cried so much in all my life.”