230 skeletons found in Sri Lanka mass grave

More than 230 skeletons have been found in a mass grave discovered earlier this year in Sri Lanka’s Mannar town, turning out to be the country’s biggest such site.

A court has ordered detailed excavations at the site — a former cooperative depot near the main bus terminus — after human remains were found by workers the digging foundation for a new building in August, the BBC reported.

The identity of the dead or their cause of death is not known. “We have excavated more than 230 skeletons so far,” professor Raj Somadeva, a forensic archaeologist from the University of Kelaniya near Colombo who is leading the team at the site, told the BBC on Thursday. “In my knowledge, this is the largest mass grave ever excavated.”

He said that apart from the human remains, the archaeologists had also found porcelain, ceramic and metal objects, in addition to some jewellery worn by the victims.

The town of Mannar is dominated by ethnic minority Tamils and community leaders says hundreds of people from the region went missing during the decadeslong conflict between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.