MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EAAF identifies yet another body buried at Falkland/Malvinas Islands

López died on May 10, 1982. He was 19.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) identified the remains of Coast Guard Corporal Jorge Eduardo López, a combatant killed in action on May 10, 1982, and who is buried in the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, it was reported in Buenos Aires.

“The National State notified Mrs. Claudia López, sister of the second corporal of the Naval Prefecture, Jorge Eduardo López, fallen in the Malvinas Islands on May 10, 1982, the identification of his body in the grave D.A.4.3 of the Darwin Cemetery,” Argentina's Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The agency explained that it was “thanks to the collaboration of his sister Claudia, who provided her DNA” that she could be “notified” that her brother's remains were in the Darwin cemetery. A total of 121 Argentine soldiers have been identified within the Humanitarian Project Plan underway since 2012, it was explained.

“Jorge Eduardo López had voluntarily presented himself at the Prefectura Naval Argentina to participate in the defense of sovereignty in the Malvinas Islands, without the approval of his parents, who did not get to see him off and did not know that he had gone to the islands, given that Jorge told them that he was getting ready to travel to Puerto Belgrano,” the Ministry's statement went on.

López embarked on the ship Islas de Los Estados, which had the objective of “taking food and supplies to the regiment N°5, isolated and already without provisions in the port Yapeyú”, and from which only two of its 25 crew members survived.

“The ship was rammed by English artillery while sailing through the San Carlos Strait. It was carrying armament, supplies, and fuel, which made survival particularly difficult for most of its crew members,” the statement went on.

Friday's announcement was made by Justice Secretary Juan Martín Mena, together with EAAF's Carlos Somigliana, it was reported.