Excavation to begin at Irish mother and baby home where 796 infants were buried in septic tank
Bodies of hundreds of infants buried at Irish institution to be recovered
- Excavation has commenced to recover the remains of hundreds of infants from a septic tank at a former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.
- The mass grave, containing 796 babies who died between 1925 and 1961, was uncovered by amateur historian Catherine Corless in 2014.
- A 2017 government investigation confirmed significant human remains of children, buried without coffins in the 9ft-deep tank.
- The painstaking two-year process aims to identify the remains, with DNA assistance from families, before proper re-interment.
- The discovery prompted apologies from the Irish premier and the Bon Secours Sisters, acknowledging the profound historical mistreatment of mothers and children in such homes.