Workers came across human remains – and unearthed a mass grave of 572 people

When a mass grave was unearthed in northern Sri Lanka last February, it was not by design.

Workers were digging to extend a cremation ground in the Chemmani area of the Jaffna region when they suddenly discovered human remains, prompting an investigation.

By August, archaeologists had completed the third phase of the excavation at the site, during which they found the skeletal remains of 572 people, including children and infants.

Among the dead were artefacts from their lives – bangles, a school bag, a milk bottle.

It is believed to be the largest mass grave site ever uncovered in Sri Lanka.

There had been whispers of its existence before - a soldier on trial for the rape and murder of a young woman during the country's devastating civil war, had spoken about a mass grave which contained hundreds of bodies. Rights groups said they were disappeared civilians

But there was no proof - until now.

And while the discovery is devastating, it has offered hope to people like Jeyaruby Jeyabalan, whose father was among thousands of people who disappeared during the decades-long war. Jeyabalan and families like his hope that answers about what happened to their loved ones lie among the bodies.

Many Tamils believe the grave holds the victims of extrajudicial killings carried out during the civil war. They are calling for an investigation – and for justice.

But the excavation process at Chemmani has moved slowly, testing the patience of families searching for answers about their disappeared loved ones.

The discovery of hundreds of remains near a previously identified mass grave has fuelled anger among the Tamils, who have long-demanded a thorough inquiry into disappearances.

Many fear the mass grave will eventually fade from public attention because of a lack of political will to pursue the truth – and so the grave has become a rallying point for renewed protests in Sri Lanka's north.

Sri Lanka, particularly the Tamil-dominated north and east, suffered decades of conflict. The war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009, divided the island-nation along ethnic lines. Tamil Tiger rebels fought for an independent state in the north-east of the country due to what they called systematic discrimination by the Sinhalese-dominated government.

The conflict lasted 26 years and the fighting killed an estimated 100,000 people. It also left about 23,000 – mostly Tamils – missing.

Both the security forces and Tamil Tigers are accused of atrocities and crimes.

In 1995, after a bloody conflict, the Sri Lankan army wrested control of the Jaffna Peninsula from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was seen as a key turning point in the war, which ended with the defeat of the Tigers in 2009.

As they extended control in the late 1990s, the entire Chemmani region became part of a high-security zone and was dotted with army camps, check points and security posts. There was an army camp in Chemmani close to the cemetery as well.

Some at that time described the Jaffna region as an "open prison" - and the security forces were accused of causing the disappearance of thousands of civilians, something Sri Lankan governments have always denied.

"I was 12 years old when my father was picked up by the Sri Lankan army at a checkpoint close to Chemmani area in September 1996. We still don't know what happened to him," Jeyaruby Jayapalan, who now lives in Jaffna, tells the BBC.

She recalls how, after learning of his disappearance, the family panicked and visited military camps and police stations across Jaffna in a desperate search for information without any luck. He never came back.

Her father, Kandaiah Jayapalan, was a government employee who also ran a roadside café not far from Chemmani.

"I went to Chemmani mass grave with many others hoping that I will find some answers. But we didn't find any material evidence. We want a detailed forensic analysis of the human remains," says Jeyaruby.

Two weeks before Kandaiah Jayapalan vanished, an 18-year-old Tamil school girl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, disappeared in the same area.

In 1998, a court in Colombo sentenced five soldiers to death for the rape and murder of Kumaraswamy and for killing three of her family members. The case drew global attention at that time. Their bodies were later found buried in Chemmani area.

It is among the most infamous cases from the conflict – and the grave currently under investigation is within 100 metres of the remains of Kumaraswamy and others were found.

In a startling court testimony, one of the convicted soldiers, Somaratne Rajapakse, alleged that between 300 and 400 people who had been killed in the mid-1990s were buried in Chemmani.

His claim led to the first excavation at Chemmani a year later, during which investigators unearthed more than 10 human skeletons. Human rights activists believed those remains were linked to people who had disappeared during the civil war, but there was little judicial follow-up.

Activists say that because the war with the Tamil rebels was ongoing, the then government didn't pursue the investigation and did not explain why.

The discovery of another mass grave in the same area has revived calls for accountability.

"Preliminary inspections suggest this was not a normal burial site and not consistent with ordinary Hindu burial practices," says Gehan Gunatilleke, a commissioner with Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which conducted inspections at Chemmani last year.

Activists and experts say that while a few dozen bodies appeared to have been formally buried, the vast majority told a different story.

Most of the human remains were found without clothing, packed tightly together and, in some cases, stacked on top of others. The graves were shallow, with bodies buried just one to two metres below the surface.

"There is a reasonable likelihood that the burials were unlawful and pursuant to extrajudicial killings," the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said in a report last year.

The families of those disappeared during the conflict have responded to the discovery by holding protest meetings and remembrance ceremonies.

Among them is Suseela, a 65-year-old woman who is looking for her son, Gnanaseelan Ravi, who was picked up by the Sri Lankan military in 2007, when he was 24.

"He was my only son, and I keep crying every day remembering him. My life is empty without him," she tells the BBC.

She went to Chemmani grave but couldn't find any evidence, likes clothes or personal jewellery, that suggested her son was buried there. DNA tests on the human remains are yet to be carried out.

All the remains recovered so far from Chemmani have been kept in the Forensic Department of the University of Jaffna campus under court custody.

"We are preparing an interim report, and it will be submitted to the court by the end of September," Prof Raj Somadeva, the chief archaeologist of the mass grave told the BBC.

Some of the samples are expected to be sent abroad for detailed examination to help determine the age of the remains. Separate medical analyses will be needed to establish the possible causes of death.

More than 20 mass graves have been found across Sri Lanka in recent decades, but none have been conclusively linked to enforced disappearances or alleged extra-judicial killings in the north and south of the country – and none have led to prosecutions.

Given the failure of the authorities to investigate previous mass graves, there is scepticism among many Tamil people over what the new investigation might achieve.

They point out to the outcome of the investigation on another mass grave was unearthed in the north-western town of Mannar in 2018 in which more than 350 skeletal remains were found. Investigations proved inconclusive, leaving many families disappointed.

They want Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake insists that it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

After coming to power in September 2024, Dissanayake promised to work towards justice and ethnic reconciliation. But his government vehemently opposes any international mechanism to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the ethnic conflict, disappointing Tamils.

"We will continue with the excavation work at Chemmani," Harshana Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka's justice minister told the BBC.

"We need to analyse the skeletons and find out how these people died. Then we have to carry out DNA tests," he said.

The government, he insists, has also asked the families to give their DNA so that it can be analysed later with the remains.

During his inspection at Chemmani in June, the minister promised investigations to find justice and truth to bring an end to the matter. He also promised that necessary funding will be allocated for the excavation.

The Sri Lankan army spokesman, Brigadier Waruna Gamage rejects allegations that security forces buried civilians after massacring them.

"All the allegations should be proved in court," he told the BBC.

The delays in investigating past crimes have attracted stringent criticism from rights groups.

After years of international pressure, in 2018 the government set up an independent body, the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP), to investigate the disappearances. But those affected say it hasn't made much progress in finding their missing relatives.

"Many cases of forced disappearance, torture and killing remain stalled, while families of victims and human rights defenders face threats and intimidation," Human Rights Watch said in a report earlier this month.

The United Nations has urged Sri Lanka to seek international help in identifying the victims, to find out how they died, and who is responsible.

"This is a situation where victims are deeply frustrated, have lived with pain for decades, have come to distrust past investigations," Rory Mungoven, the Asia-Pacific chief at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights tells the BBC.

"I think involving international assistance would help to bolster confidence in these investigations," he points out.

Successive Sri Lankan governments have strongly resisted calls for international investigations into alleged wartime atrocities.

During earlier reporting trips to Sri Lanka, I met parents and family members of the disappeared who campaigned for decades to the search for truth. Some have since passed away without ever discovering the fates of their loved ones.

Human rights groups say that President Dissanayake's government now has an opportunity to break from a long-standing pattern of delay and denial and deliver accountability for grave abuses committed during the conflict.

Suseela is determined to know the truth.

"I don't know how long I will live with such uncertainty, but I want closure," she says.

Additional Reporting by: Ranjan Arun Prasadh, BBC Tamil Service in Kandy and Kumanan Kanapathippillai in Jaffna.