In a mass grave on the outskirts of Benghazi, Libya, lies coffin number 57 – which just might hold the remains of Anton Hammerl.
Soon, a DNA match could confirm if this is the former chief photographer of the Saturday Star, shot by government troops on April 5 last year and left for dead.
Coffin number 57 was reburied at the cemetery while Libyan authorities try to establish the identity of the corpse.
Libya doesn't have the capacity to analyse DNA, but The Star understands genetic material has been taken from the remains and sent to the Libyan ministry of Martyrs, Wounded and the Missing.
Officials were reportedly in the process of arranging to send the DNA to Bosnia and the headquarters of the International Committee for Missing Persons (ICMP). The committee is world renowned for its work in identifying victims of conflicts and disasters. It has one of the most advanced forensic labs in the world and was instrumental in identifying thousands of dead after the 2004 tsunami.
"They (ICMP) are aware of the sample but haven't received anything as yet," said Brigadier Leonie Ras, of the SAPS victim identification Centre, who has been in contact with the ICMP.
Ras planned to send DNA profiles of Hammerl's parents to the ICMP on Tuesday, to be compared with genetic material from coffin number 57.
The body that now lies in coffin number 57 was exhumed in early March from a mass grave in Bin Jawwad, about 200km from Brega, where it is believed Hammerl was shot by pro-Gaddafi forces.
At the time, Hammerl was travelling as a freelance photographer with journalists Clare Morgana Gillis of USA Today, Global Post correspondent James Foley and Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer.
The three were later captured by pro-Gaddafi forces.
A witness to the exhumation said there had been 170 bodies in the mass grave– a mix of pro-Gaddafi and rebel soldiers who had died in the fighting around Brega.
The witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, added that the exhumation had been carried out by families who believed their loved ones were in the mass grave.
The digging had been supervised by the Ministry of Martyrs, Wounded and the Missing and took four days to complete.
Even before the digging began, authorities had alerted Gillis, Foley and Brabo to the fact that hospital records pointed to the possibility of the remains of a white male being in the grave.
The records indicated that the corpse was of Hammerl's height, had black hair and had died around April 5, the date when the photographer was shot.
The three journalists had returned to Libya to search for Hammerl.
The witness said interest in the body in coffin number 57 rose when what appeared to be a camera lens was found.
"The last guy to see Anton alive, Manu, looked at the body but could not identify him," said the witness.
The witness had seen the corpse but couldn't make out the original colour of the clothes because of the advanced state of decomposition.
"I couldn't look for too long, the smell was really bad," he said.
Of the 170 corpses, 80 had been identified by relatives and the rest placed in coffins.
The dead were honoured in a parade that began in Bin Jawwad and ended in Benghazi. Pieces of bone and teeth were taken from the remains to extract DNA, the witness said.
The coffins were buried in a cemetery in Benghazi, their location mapped so that they could be exhumed once their identity had been established.
Hammerl's wife, Penny Sukhraj-Hammerl, said on Monday night the family would be hugely grateful if there was some movement in establishing where her husband's remains were.
"We know this is only a chance," she said. "Either we make haste and find him, or if it is not him, continue the search."
SA's ambassador to Libya, Mohammed Dangor, warned of the complexities of finding bodies in a country where at least 50 000 died during the uprising. "Finding thousands of people is not easy. This is a state that is still in a state of flux."
The Star
IOL News