Kokkuththoduvai mass grave excavation suspended amidst 40 skeletons being found

The agonizing wait of the war-affected Tamils to find out what happened to their dear ones who went missing during the war continues as the exhumation of the mass grave in Kokkuthoduvai is suspended.
After 20 days of actual excavation at the mass grave found latest at the war-ravaged Mullaitivu district the operation has been postponed for three months’ officials involved in the operation confirmed.
“So up to now we have removed 4o human skeletons with their uniforms and some artefacts” Prof. Raj Somadeva Forensic Archaeologist told media persons after the completion of the second stage of excavation on Wednesday (29)
The latest mass grave was found accidentally along the Kokkuthoduvai-Kokkilai road when waterline pipes were being laid in June this year. The human skeletons excavated so far are suspected to be that of female cadres of the LTTE. During the retrieval of the skeletons and other body parts, uniforms, parts of female clothing, in particular, innerwear, dog tags worn around the wrist, bullets, cartridges, a mini water filter, a watch, and a marker pen were among those artefacts found.
“There are some to be removed from the trench, but unfortunately we have no time to extend the ditch this time, so we hope to excavate the rest of the remaining part of the ditch in the future probably we think in 8 weeks time ” Prof.Raj Somadeva added.
So far about 100 artefacts have been recovered from the site and have been properly documented and officials are trying to analyze them. A preliminary report is expected to be submitted by the end of this year.
Hi-tech equipment like radars was used for three days during the second stage of excavation during the last week of November. Two-dimensional images from the radar scan have shown the mass graves extend beyond the present site across the road in length and breadth Judicial Medical Officer of Mullaituvu district Kanagasabapathy Vasudeva told media persons earlier. A three-dimensional analysis is expected to be done to understand the extent of the mass grave.
Prof. Raj Somadeva says an area of 2x3 meters is to be excavated in the near future.
“We measured the depth. It comes to about 1.5 meters. So totally we have to remove at least 6.63 cubic meters of soil to unearth the rest of the skeletons buried here”