MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Police finds no evidence of human remains at Teal Inlet; Red Cross satisfied with excavation results

Chief of Police for the Falkland Islands, Chief Superintendent Jeff McMahon thanked the ICRC for their support and expertise

The Royal Falkland Islands Police (RFIP) has continued to investigate reports of a burial site at Teal Inlet, alleged to contain the remains of unidentified Argentine soldiers.

Following the extension of the scope of Humanitarian Project Plan 2 (HPP2) to include assistance with Operation Quartz, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supervised the excavation of the site alongside RFIP and Falkland Islands Government representatives.

The excavation of the site identified during the investigation revealed no evidence of any burials or human remains. As such, the ICRC team were content the site be re-covered and their part in the investigation process at Teal Inlet is complete.

The ICRC is currently carrying out work, under HPP2, to identify human remains buried in grave C.1.10 in the Argentine military cemetery near Darwin. This is the second phase of the project, which began in 2017 and has led to the DNA identification of 115 Argentine soldiers who died during the Falkland Islands War, and were previously buried in unnamed graves.

Chief of Police for the Falkland Islands, Chief Superintendent Jeff McMahon, said: “We would like to thank everyone who worked with us during this part of the investigation, in particular the ICRC who volunteered their expertise, and local landowners who have been incredibly supportive over the past 15 weeks. If any new information comes to light, this will be fully investigated; however, we are satisfied that, having conducted a detailed survey of the land, that there is no physical evidence to corroborate the initial allegation at this stage.”