ICRC find additional body in cemetery near Darwin
Written for the August 27, 2021, issue of Penguin News under the headline “Additional body found in cemetery near Darwin.”
AN additional body has been found in a grave at the Argentine Cemetery near Darwin, Operational Coordinator for the activity of the The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Falklands, Laurent Corbaz, revealed at a press conference on August 19.
The humanitarian project at the Argentine Cemetery focuses on a singular grave which since 2004 has been marked with the names of four fallen Argentine soldiers. Following the previous humanitarian project of the ICRC in the Falklands, however, the remains of three of those four named soldiers were confirmed to rest elsewhere in the cemetery. This has lead to the project of exhuming the bodies from the grave so that they can be identified.
Mr Laurent Corbaz (left) and Doctor Luis Fondebrider (right) at the press conference on August 19
At the press conference on August 19 Mr Corbaz told members of the press that “the skeletal remains that we have found in grave C1.10 are in a relatively good state of preservation and we are confident that at least five persons are lying there.”
Mr Corbaz explained that the identification of these remains will be done through DNA analysis. He said that due to the state of preservation of the bones there are, “good chances to identify those who are there.”
The next stage of the process, Mr Corbaz explained, is to send samples to Cordoba, Argentina, with Dr Luis Fondebrider, Head of Forensics, accompanying the samples.
Dr Fondebrider explained that “the case is complex, because we don’t have a complete body like in HPP1 [the first humanitarian project of the ICRC in the Falklands], we have fragments of body.”
Mr Corbaz, asked what will happen to the bodies during the process, stated that the bodies will be reburied in the same grave in separate bags temporarily while identification is underway and then treated as per the families wishes following the identification. It was stated by Dr Fondebrider that throughout the process the bodies will be treated “with dignity and respect.”
Mr Corbaz made clear during the press conference that “contact with the families is the most important thing.”
“We are doing this for the families, and it’s because the families have asked the ICRC and their own government in Argentina to identify those still missing that we are doing this.”
He added that contact with the families goes on consistently throughout the process, including on the day of the press conference to inform them that an additional body has been found at the Argentine Cemetery.
Mr Corbaz noted that the Falkland Islands Government has cooperated and assisted in the work of the ICRC.
“No doubt without the assistance provided it would not have been possible to implement that vision.”
It was later confirmed by an FIG press statement that no evidence has been found of unidentified human remains at Teal Inlet, which has been investigated by the Royal Falkland Islands Police following a witness coming forward to state a belief that there were unidentified and previously unknown bodies buried in the area.