Old human bones dug up near busy Kariega road

While laying fibre cables near one of Kariega’s busiest roads, a group of workers discovered scattered skeletal remains buried a few metres underground along Daniel Pienaar Road. Police spokesperson Captain Gerda Swart said the remains, identified as human by police pathologists, were very old. She said fibre company workers were digging trenches along the boundary fences in Daniel Pienaar Road at about 2pm on Tuesday last week when the discovery was made. An inquest docket had been opened and forensic pathology services were informed. “Further investigations into the discovery will be done,” Swart said. Ward 51 councillor Roelf Basson said he only learnt of the discovery after being contacted by a reporter yesterday. He said the area where the

‘Kariega was a rural area with many farms around and some of those farms may have had grave sites on them’

bones were found straddled a parking lot near Strelitzia High School in Fairbridge Heights. Basson said in the 20 years he had been working and living in Kariega it was the first time he had heard of such a discovery. “Kariega was a rural area with many farms around and some of those farms may have had grave sites on them,” Basson said. Daniel Pienaar Road, which was constructed more than 30 years ago, runs from the R75 to Graaff-Reinet Road, and is a major thoroughfare for the town. Basson said he was not aware of any old grave sites in the area and, if there were, the municipality would not necessarily demolish them. “We aim to preserve old grave sites. “If there were more grave sites, they would have come up,” he said. Basson said he would speak to some of the older town planners and ask them if they had any knowledge of old grave sites in the area. Calls to Strelitzia High School went unanswered. It is not the first time strange discoveries have been made in the area. In October 2019, 19 explosive devices were found in the Strelitzia Dam and a further three in February 2020. At the time, police said the origins of the devices, including mortar bombs, were a mystery but confirmed they were very old and not of SA origin.