The London Games Organising Committee (LOCOG) today apologised to the Indian contingent over the issue of an unidentified woman gatecrashing into the team's march past at the Opening Ceremony here on Friday, terming the incident as "unfortunate".

Angry at the "mystery" woman's presence with the contingent during the opening gala, India had shot off a letter to the LOCOG.

In a letter to India's acting Chef-de-Mission P K Muralidharan Raja, James Macleod, the head of the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Services and Relations, said "it was regretful that such an incident occurred".

"Our Chairman has asked me to extend a sincere apology for the unfortunate incident that occured during the Opening Ceremony. Our team at LOGOC are aware that a lady joined the Indian delegation during their entry into the stadium and we have taken this matter very seriously," Macleod said in his letter to Raja.

"The athlete's parade is a huge privilege for those who march and we recognise the importance of this moment for the athletes and therefore it was regretful that this incident occured."

Macleod, however, said that there was no security lapse from the organisers and the woman in question had a valid accreditation which has now been cancelled.

"Our security teams have explained to us that the person in question did in fact have a valid accreditation and was therefore able to access the tunnel prior to the field of play. We have taken the appropriate measures to address this issue with our security teams and also removed the accreditation from the person concerned," he said.

Earlier, a source in the Indian contingent had confirmed that they have received an apology from the organisers.

"We have recieved a letter from the London Games organisers apologising over the incident," the source said.