The body of a dearly departed nearly departed completely after a police truck towed a funeral van - with the corpse inside - from a New York Irish funeral home.

The police tow truck hooked up the van outside Redden's funeral home on West 14th Street without noticing the large, body-shaped box inside.

Funeral director Paul DeNigris said he hotfooted it down to the pound after realizing what happened.

"I tried not to be too loud," he recounted. "I didn't want to scream, 'I'm the guy from the funeral home with the car with the person in the back.'

"We try to be discreet."

DeNigris said he nearly died himself after ralized that the body and the van were missing.

"I was just a wreck," DeNigris told the Daily News. "I was frantic. When something like that happens, you go into panic mode."

DeNigris had parked his Dodge in a "No Parking Anytime" zone outside Redden's while he stepped inside to collect the paperwork for the corpse which was being flown from Newark to Miami.

"The car was just gone," he said.

Redden's - which was founded in 1919 to serve the Irish community - say they will start putting bigger signs on their vehicles to try and prevent a repeat.

The tow pound waived the $185 fee and DeNigris says he will fight the parking fine.