The formal identification of human remains unearthed in a field in Co Meath last Thursday is likely to be a number of weeks away, according to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains.
Post mortems are currently taking place to determine whether the remains are those of Séamus Wright and Kevin McKee, two men abducted and killed by the IRA in 1972.
DNA samples will be taken from the autopsies and sent for analysis. The results are not expected for a number of weeks.
The search for a third body, that of former Cistercian monk Joe Lynskey, is continuing in the field in the townland of Coghalstown, about 10km north of Navan.
The process of locating the remains is complicated by the fact that the site is reclaimed bog.
Layers of topsoil must first be stripped away to reveal ground conditions as they would have been in the 1970s.
A spokesman for the commission said the next move, after soil stripping, is an intelligence-led dig, with the reinstatement of the topsoil.
Some six hectares of land at Coghalstown has been covered in this way since March of this year.
The commission said it had intelligence that there were three bodies in the area and it is now hoping the discovery of two bodies indicates that there is an equally strong chance of finding the third.
The spokesman said: “We had been hoping that locating one body would tell us we were in the right area for the other two. Conversely, the location of two bodies gives us hope we are in the right area for the other one.”
Family statement
On Friday, as the remains of the first two men were removed from the site, the families of Wright and Mr McKee released a joint statement saying they hoped they could “at last see an end to the torment that has lasted over 40 years and bring Séamus and Kevin home”.
“While this will change the lives of our families, our thoughts are with the Lynskey family and all those who still wait for the news that their loved ones have been found. We pray for them.”
