Scientists identify remains of 88 Argentine soldiers on Falklands

Argentine Falklands War veterans visit Darwin cemetery, where Argentine soldiers who died during the war were buried, in the Falkland Islands, March 12, 2012. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

December 1, 2017

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Forensic scientists have identified the remains of 88 Argentine soldiers buried in anonymous graves on the Falkland Islands after the country’s 1982 conflict with Britain, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.

The results were presented to Argentine and British delegations, and Argentine authorities would inform the families of the soldiers “directly and confidentially,” the ICRC said in a statement.

There are 123 graves marked ‘Argentine soldier only known to God’ in the Darwin Cemetery in the South Atlantic, one of which contains multiple bodies. The ICRC has been interviewing families of dead Argentine soldiers since 2012 and around 100 have consented to DNA testing.

In Britain’s two-month-long war to reclaim the Falklands, which Argentines still call the Malvinas, 255 British troops and about 650 Argentine soldiers died. While the South American country still claims the islands, President Mauricio Macri has adopted a softer tone than his predecessor Cristina Fernandez.

The two countries signed an agreement last December to try to identify the soldiers and split the $1.5 million costs. The team of ICRC forensic scientists, along with two experts each from Argentina and Britain, began their efforts in June.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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