- Inclement weather halts excavations
The skeletal remains at the Chemmani mass grave have increased to 252 following the recommencement of excavations in April, with activities being halted due to the adverse weather.
“A few more bodies were found when they restarted the excavation, but I think they may have stopped because of the heavy rain here. We’re just finding more and more skeletal remains. Now it’s at 252, the last I checked,” Tamil National Alliance MP, Attorney-at-Law M.A. Sumanthiran told The Sunday Morning.
He added that courts had once again been urged to push for an independent international laboratory to carry out DNA testing of the skeletal remains.
“We restarted submissions in court. They have to start an investigation. With that, the task is to identify the remains, and we have suggested that they contact some well-known laboratory outside the country and make arrangements for it to be sent there.”
The sixth phase of excavation at the Chemmani mass grave commenced on 27 April under the supervision of Jaffna Magistrate S. Leninkumar, resuming work seven months after the previous phase was halted.
The fifth phase of excavations at the site had been suspended on 6 September 2025, amid persistent rainfall and delays in securing approval for the next tranche of funding from the Ministry of Justice.
By the end of that phase, skeletal remains corresponding to 240 human bodies had been identified, with 239 sets of remains recovered.
On 28 April, the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court was informed that an allocation of Rs. 2.1 million had been made available to facilitate the resumption of excavation work. The sixth phase was initiated based on findings from prior scan reports of the site.
Excavations are being conducted under judicial supervision, with a team of experts including University of Kelaniya Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology Senior Professor Raj Somadeva and forensic specialist Dr. Selliah Pranavan of the University of Jaffna.
Recovered skeletal remains and artefacts are currently being held at the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Jaffna, under court orders.
The Chemmani mass grave, located on the outskirts of Jaffna, first gained attention during the conflict in the 1990s involving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In 1998, at the height of the conflict, the site came under scrutiny following allegations of a mass grave, with 15 skeletons discovered at the time.
More recently, skeletal remains were uncovered on 13 February 2025, during routine development work in the area. A week later, the court ordered a judicial examination, leading to the commencement of excavations on 15 May 2025 under judicial supervision.
Attempts to contact the Ministry of Justice regarding the progress and funding for the process failed.