In Tuam, Ireland, work has begun to exhume the remains of 798 deceased children at a former mother and baby home. Many of them are believed to have been buried in a former sewage tank beneath the site.
The exhumation follows the work of local historian Catherine Corless. She discovered that 798 children died in the home between 1925 and 1961. Only two of them received an official grave. No burial records have been found for the rest.
According to Corless, many of the bodies were presumably dumped in an old septic tank. That is an underground tank that serves as an independent wastewater treatment system. This is locally known as ‘the pit’, the historian tells Sky News.
The home was run by the Bon Secours order of nuns. Unmarried mothers were often forcibly sent here to give birth in isolation. The Irish government apologized in 2021 for its role in these institutions.
The site has now been cordoned off. The full excavation will start in July and may take up to two years. According to the leader of the excavation, it is a complex operation, partly due to the mixing of remains and the possible presence of older graves.
The aim of the investigation is to identify as many children as possible through DNA analysis and to give them a dignified reburial.