TAMIL GUARDIAN
A further 10 sets of human remains were identified on Monday as excavation work continued at the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna, bringing the total number of sets identified during 108 days of excavation to 572.
Monday marked the 54th day of the third phase of excavations, for which the court has authorised 56 days of work. Nine sets of remains that had previously been identified were also exhumed during the day, bringing the total number fully exhumed to 565.
The latest remains were identified in clusters and subsequently excavated. Despite the third phase now approaching its court-authorised conclusion, the steady emergence of additional remains has continued, with no indication from Monday’s work that the discoveries are nearing an end.
Three additional test pits were also dug and investigated on Monday, although no human remains were identified in them. In the areas surrounding the mass grave, a total of 14 test pits have now been excavated, with eight sets of human remains identified in five of those pits.
The continuing discoveries at Chemmani have seen the number of identified remains rise steadily as the excavation enters its final authorised days of the third phase, leaving the scale of the site increasingly marked by the accumulation of human remains recovered over the course of the investigation.