Excavation has begun on a septic tank at a site in Ireland that authorities believe contains the remains of nearly 800 dead babies and children who died at a home for unwed mothers run by Catholic nuns.
Many of the infant remains are feared to have been dumped in the cesspool known as “the pit” at the former institution in the small town of Tuam, County Galway, local historian Catherine Corless told Sky News.
In total, 798 children died at the home between 1925 and its closure in 1961, of which just two were buried in a nearby cemetery, Corless’ research found.
The other 796 children’s remains are believed to be under the site of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, which was demolished in 1971 and is now surrounded by a modern apartment complex.
Bon Secours, known locally as The Home, was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children, run by a religious order of Catholic nuns.
Unmarried pregnant women would be sent to the home to give birth and would be interned for a year to do unpaid work.
They were separated from their newborn children, who would be raised by the nuns until they were adopted, often without the consent of their families.
The full scale of the tragedy at Bon Secours was only uncovered in 2014 thanks to Corless’s findings.
More than a decade on, a team of investigators began their forensic investigation this week.
Sky News