Ireland to begin excavation of mass grave at Church-run Mother and Baby home
TUAM, Ireland (Reuters) -A team of forensic archaeologists and crime scene experts will next week begin excavating and trying to identify the remains of around 800 infants who died at an Irish church-run home for unmarried mothers.
An investigation into the network of Catholic Church-run homes was launched almost a decade ago after evidence of an unmarked mass graveyard at the County Galway town of Tuam was uncovered by an amateur local historian who was haunted by childhood memories of skinny children at a local home.
The remains of 802 children, from newborns to three-year-olds, were buried in Tuam from 1925 to 1961, the government-commissioned investigation found. It discovered an "appalling" mortality rate of around 15% among children born at all of the so-called Mother and Baby Homes.
"We never thought this day would come," Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers were born in Tuam, told reporters next to railings that cordon off the site. Records show at least one of the boys died at the home.
"They got no dignity in life and they got no dignity in death, so hopefully their voices are heard because I think they've been crying for a long time to be found."
The 2021 report, which found around 9,000 children died in the homes where young pregnant women were hidden from society for decades, was the latest in a series of damning reports that laid bare some of the Catholic Church's darkest chapters.
The Tuam home, run by nuns from the Bon Secours Order, was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a housing estate. Significant quantities of human skeletal remains were found in chambers along with babies' shoes and nappy pins underneath a patch of grass near a playground during test excavations.
Daniel MacSweeney, the head of the excavation, told a news conference that he could not underestimate the difficulty of the "incredibly complex" project.
Experts from Colombia, Spain, Britain, Canada, Australia and the U.S. have joined Irish specialists for the excavation. A JCB digger and construction prefabs stood beside the cleared out playground at the site on Monday.
MacSweeney said the complexity of their work includes the fact that some of the infant remains are co-mingled underground, the difficulty in telling apart male remains from female for those so young, whether DNA is recoverable, and a lack of archival data.
Officials expect the dig to take around two years.
(Writing by Padraic HalpinEditing by Bill Berkrot)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ireland to begin excavation of mass grave at Church-run Mother and Baby home
By Clodagh Kilcoyne TUAM, Ireland (Reuters) -A team of forensic archaeologists and crime scene experts will next week begin excavating and trying to identify the remains of around 800 infants who died at an Irish church-run home for unmarried mothers. An investigation into the network of Catholic Church-run homes was launched almost a decade ago after evidence of an unmarked mass graveyard at the County Galway town of Tuam was uncovered by an amateur local historian who was haunted by childhood memories of skinny children at a local home. The remains of 802 children, from newborns to three-year-olds, were buried in Tuam from 1925 to 1961, the government-commissioned investigation found. It discovered an "appalling" mortality rate of around 15% among children born at all of the so-called Mother and Baby Homes. "We never thought this day would come," Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers were born in Tuam, told reporters next to railings that cordon off the site. Records show at least one of the boys died at the home. "They got no dignity in life and they got no dignity in death, so hopefully their voices are heard because I think they've been crying for a long time to be found." The 2021 report, which found around 9,000 children died in the homes where young pregnant women were hidden from society for decades, was the latest in a series of damning reports that laid bare some of the Catholic Church's darkest chapters. The Tuam home, run by nuns from the Bon Secours Order, was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a housing estate. Significant quantities of human skeletal remains were found in chambers along with babies' shoes and nappy pins underneath a patch of grass near a playground during test excavations. Daniel MacSweeney, the head of the excavation, told a news conference that he could not underestimate the difficulty of the "incredibly complex" project. Experts from Colombia, Spain, Britain, Canada, Australia and the U.S. have joined Irish specialists for the excavation. A JCB digger and construction prefabs stood beside the cleared out playground at the site on Monday. MacSweeney said the complexity of their work includes the fact that some of the infant remains are co-mingled underground, the difficulty in telling apart male remains from female for those so young, whether DNA is recoverable, and a lack of archival data. Officials expect the dig to take around two years. (Writing by Padraic HalpinEditing by Bill Berkrot)
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ireland to begin excavation of mass grave at Church-run Mother and Baby home
By Clodagh Kilcoyne TUAM, Ireland (Reuters) -A team of forensic archaeologists and crime scene experts will next week begin excavating and trying to identify the remains of around 800 infants who died at an Irish church-run home for unmarried mothers. An investigation into the network of Catholic Church-run homes was launched almost a decade ago after evidence of an unmarked mass graveyard at the County Galway town of Tuam was uncovered by an amateur local historian who was haunted by childhood memories of skinny children at a local home. The remains of 802 children, from newborns to three-year-olds, were buried in Tuam from 1925 to 1961, the government-commissioned investigation found. It discovered an "appalling" mortality rate of around 15% among children born at all of the so-called Mother and Baby Homes. "We never thought this day would come," Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers were born in Tuam, told reporters next to railings that cordon off the site. Records show at least one of the boys died at the home. "They got no dignity in life and they got no dignity in death, so hopefully their voices are heard because I think they've been crying for a long time to be found." The 2021 report, which found around 9,000 children died in the homes where young pregnant women were hidden from society for decades, was the latest in a series of damning reports that laid bare some of the Catholic Church's darkest chapters. The Tuam home, run by nuns from the Bon Secours Order, was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a housing estate. Significant quantities of human skeletal remains were found in chambers along with babies' shoes and nappy pins underneath a patch of grass near a playground during test excavations. Daniel MacSweeney, the head of the excavation, told a news conference that he could not underestimate the difficulty of the "incredibly complex" project. Experts from Colombia, Spain, Britain, Canada, Australia and the U.S. have joined Irish specialists for the excavation. A JCB digger and construction prefabs stood beside the cleared out playground at the site on Monday. MacSweeney said the complexity of their work includes the fact that some of the infant remains are co-mingled underground, the difficulty in telling apart male remains from female for those so young, whether DNA is recoverable, and a lack of archival data. Officials expect the dig to take around two years. (Writing by Padraic HalpinEditing by Bill Berkrot)
New York Post
19 hours ago
- New York Post
Teen camp counselors describe harrowing moment they wrote girls' names on their bodies in case they were swept away in floodwaters
Two teenage camp counselors have recalled the harrowing moment they wrote the names of the young girls they were caring for on their bodies in case they were swept away in the raging Texas floodwaters. Silvana Garza and Maria Paula said they desperately put on a 'happy face' to keep the children calm as they prepared to evacuate a branch of Camp Mystic neighboring the one where at least five girls were killed and 11 are still missing. 'Us as counselors, we started to write our names on our skin, anywhere that was visible,' Paula Told Mexican news outlet NMas in a Spanish-language interview on Sunday. Advertisement 4 Counselors Silvana Garza and Maria Paula describe the moments they prepared to evacuate as raging flood waters rose around them. NMas/YouTube 4 Bystanders survey the damage at Camp Mystic. DUSTIN SAFRANEK/EPA/Shutterstock 'We did the same for the girls, wrote their names anywhere that was easy to see,' she added. Survivors of the neighboring private all-girls summer camp — where at least five girls are confirmed dead and another 11 remain missing — flocked to to the location where Garza and Paula worked as the Guadalupe River swelled. Advertisement 4 Furnitures lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding. REUTERS As news poured in of the horror nearby, the pair said they were told to 'put on a happy face' to not scare the younger girls. 'At the time, we started to prepare our girls because we thought we were also going to be evacuated,' Garza told the outlet. 4 Stuffed animals on the windowsill of a cabin at Camp Mystic. REUTERS Advertisement 'We told them to pack a bag, to pack their favorite stuffed animal. We didn't know if we were going to be evacuated or not. We were just waiting.' At least 82 people have been killed in the historic floods — with dozens more people missing and the number of those killed only expected to rise.
