Sri Lanka mass grave called ‘a crime site’

DHAKA: The remains of more than 150 people have been excavated in the town of Matale in central Sri Lanka.

The skeletal remains were discovered late last year by workers building a facility at a hospital in Matale.

Dr Ajith Jayasena, Matale hospital’s judicial medical officer in charge of the investigation, told Al Jazeera that the site ‘is a crime scene’.

Bone samples will be sent abroad to find out when they died and soil analysis of the area is also being done, investigators said.

Basil Fernando, the executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, told Al Jazeera that ‘criminal justice’ remains the ‘greater area of difficulty’.

‘This is only one mass grave, I`m sure there are many, many mass graves in Sri Lanka,’ he said.

There are allegations that the bodies are those of victims of a small pox outbreak from a hundred years ago, while others believe they may be those killed by a flood some years ago.

BDST: 1931 HRS, FEB 18, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor- eic@banglanews24.com