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Photographs: JDS Lanka
At least 88 skeletal remains have been excavated at a mass grave within the Colombo Port premises, officials confirmed this week, as yet even more bodies are recovered from another mass grave on the island.
The grave was first discovered in July 2024, when construction workers building a new elevated expressway stumbled upon human remains in the high-security zone. Excavations have since been carried out under the supervision of Colombo Additional Magistrate Kasun Kanchana Disanayake, with archaeological expertise from Professor Raj Somadeva.
The Colombo Port site has already been the subject of controversy. Excavation formally began in September 2024, but the first phase lasted only eight days before being halted, yielding just a handful of bodies recovered. A second phase later that month unearthed further remains, but was also abruptly suspended.
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When work finally resumed in January 2025, forensic archaeologists warned that dozens more skeletons were likely buried there. Yet, within days, the dig was again called off due to a lack of government funding. Human remains were left submerged in muddy water, while journalists documented how the state had failed to even erect proper cover to protect the evidence.
Forensic experts have long stressed the need for continuous excavation and scientific preservation at Sri Lanka’s mass grave sites. However, families of the disappeared say state negligence demonstrates Colombo’s lack of will to deliver truth or justice.
Despite repeated discoveries of mass graves across the island, including those tied to atrocities committed during the war in the Tamil homeland and state crackdowns in the south, no site has ever been fully investigated and no perpetrators held accountable.
Tamils and human rights organisations continue to demand an independent, international investigation, warning that Sri Lanka’s mishandling of mass graves is part of a broader pattern of erasure that perpetuates impunity.
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