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Bodies found during search for 'disappeared' victim Joe Lynskey | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
The remains of two bodies have been found on reclaimed bogland in the Irish Republic where three of the people believed to have been “disappeared” by the IRA are thought to have been secretly buried. | |
As part of a search for the remains of the former monk Joe Lynskey, a dig on farmland in Coghalstown, County Meath, unearthed one body on Thursday morning, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) said. | |
A second body was discovered as further examinations took place at the site and preparations were made to take the first body out the ground. | A second body was discovered as further examinations took place at the site and preparations were made to take the first body out the ground. |
IRA victims Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee are believed to have been buried in the same area as Lynskey, the ICLVR said. | |
“We have always said that we think three bodies are in that area and until there is further identification we just don’t know,” a spokesman said. | “We have always said that we think three bodies are in that area and until there is further identification we just don’t know,” a spokesman said. |
It is understood the second set of human remains was unearthed as specialists cleared ground around the first body to prepare it for removal. | It is understood the second set of human remains was unearthed as specialists cleared ground around the first body to prepare it for removal. |
Lynskey’s family had been notified of the initial discovery and were said to be shocked but relieved. | |
The former Cistercian monk from Belfast was abducted and murdered by the IRA in August 1972. The group only admitted his disappearance in 2010. | |
Wright, an asphalt layer also from Belfast, had been in the IRA and was murdered by his former colleagues, who accused him of being a British army agent and a member of its military reaction force – an undercover unit. | |
Wright was 25 and married when he went missing in October 1972. | |
McKee, again from Belfast and in the IRA, was murdered in the same year because of the same suspicions the IRA had of Wright. McKee was interrogated and murdered by the terrorist group. | |
Lynskey’s niece, Maria, who expected to visit the site, said her thoughts were with other families awaiting news. | |
“We would like to thank the [ICLVR] and those who have engaged with the commission in the search for Joe,” she said. “Our thoughts are with the other families whose loved ones remain disappeared.” | |
Extensive searches have been carried out at the site for both Wright and McKee, but this year was the first dig for Lynskey’s remains. | Extensive searches have been carried out at the site for both Wright and McKee, but this year was the first dig for Lynskey’s remains. |