Chemmani mass grave nears 500 remains as probe expands beyond cemetery walls

Trial excavations are to be carried out at the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna to establish whether burials extend beyond the walls of the cemetery, as the number of sets of human remains identified at the site reached 499.

Two locations have been allocated for the trial digs, with preliminary work already under way, the lawyer V.S. Niranjan said on Thursday following the 45th day of the third phase of excavations.

Several locations will be selected at random for trial excavation by a team led by the archaeology professor Raj Somadeva, he said. If human skeletal remains are found during the trials, Ground Penetrating Radar testing could then be carried out to determine whether fuller excavation of those areas is required.

Niranjan said discussions had taken place on the need to excavate outside the cemetery boundaries. Satellite imagery could be examined to identify areas where changes to the terrain are visible, with trial excavations potentially carried out at those locations. Decisions on the proposed investigations are expected at a meeting scheduled for 14 October, based on the reports available by then.

Eight more sets identified

Eight further sets of human skeletal remains were identified during Thursdays excavation, while five previously identified sets were fully exhumed. A coin and buttons from childrens clothing were recovered as evidence.

The court has authorised 56 days of excavation for the third phase, of which 45 have now been completed. Across all three phases, work has been carried out over 99 days. As of Thursday, 499 sets of human skeletal remains had been identified at Chemmani, of which 494 have been fully exhumed.

Chemmani is already the largest mass grave uncovered on the island, having surpassed the Mannar Sathosa site, and excavations have repeatedly unearthed the remains of infants and young children alongside artefacts including clothing, feeding bottles, toys and beads. Work was briefly suspended in late July with the toll at 480 before resuming this month.

The prospect that the grave extends beyond the cemetery would echo the original account that first brought the site to public attention. In 1998, the Sri Lankan soldier Somaratne Rajapakse, convicted over the abduction, rape and murder of the schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, testified that between 300 and 400 bodies of Tamils who had disappeared in the custody of the security forces were buried in the Chemmani area. An excavation the following year recovered only 15 skeletons before the investigation stalled. The current dig has now passed 30 times that number, and the process of identifying the dead has still not begun.