Unidentified remains of man believed to be those of victim of Tuskar Rock air tragedy
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A man whose unidentified remains are buried in a Wexford cemetery is believed to be one of the victims of the 1968 Tuskar Rock air tragedy.
The man’s remains were discovered in the sea near Tuskar Rock in May 1968 — two months after Aer Lingus flight 712 crashed into the sea off Wexford on March 24, 1968.
Thirteen bodies were found shortly after the accident. Another was discovered on May 11 but efforts to identify the decomposed body through DNA profiling have failed. The man’s body has been buried in Crosstown cemetery in Wexford.
A database of unidentified remains published by the Department of Justice on Tuesday included details about the case, along with 43 other unidentified full or partial remains currently in Ireland.
The report noted in relation to the Tuskar Rock discovery: “The post-mortem carried out concluded that the injuries were consistent with someone involved in a plane crash.”
The remains were exhumed in 2000 for DNA extraction.
Dezy Walls, whose father Desmond P was one of those who died in the tragedy, said members of his family provided DNA in the hope the unidentified remains were those of his father.
However, he says: “It was definitely not him.”
He recalls the family knew within a few days of the crash that it was unlikely their father’s remains would be found.
He added he hoped the family of the man buried in Crosstown cemetery would be found.
Twenty two of the 44 remains currently unidentified in Ireland are in the Munster area.
They include the body of Baby John, the infant buried in Cahirciveen after his remains were found on White Strand beach in 1984. He had been stabbed 28 times. A man and woman were recently arrested by gardaí investigating the murder of the infant. A file is being prepared for the DPP after they were released without charge.
According to Minister of State at the Department of Justice James Browne, the database will be updated consistently with any new unidentified remains from now on.
He said some of the remains on the database date from as far back as the 1970s to as recently as last year.
He referenced a case in Galway where parts of a body of a man believed to be in his mid-20s were recovered in Sollohoona Bog in Spiddal in 1995. They were found along with a knapsack with a bottle of whiskey, a Sony Walkman, German coins dated 1993, a Casio watch, spectacles, and shoes. His case is one of 16 out of the 44 which have not yet had DNA profiling carried out.
Mr Browne said there would be engagement with international organisations such as Interpol and Europol in a bid to trace people’s identities.
Mr Browne said coroner staffing levels need to be assessed under a review which began last week which will also review how coroners “work and interact with each other”.
Public information officer of the Coroners Society of Ireland Pat O’Connor said there may be still be paper-based files concerning unidentified remains that are yet to be found, adding files go as far back as the beginning of the State.
“There’s probably not much point in going too far back because if you go more than 70 years, the reality is that the DNA samples may not be available,” he said.
However, he said the information would be useful if there was a dedicated coroners' database.
Speaking on the possibility that remains on the database may be from abroad, he said the coroner service would not be able to survive without gardaí who liaise with international police agencies.
“There is an increasing phenomenon of people coming from other countries into Ireland and they’re alone, and there can be times where they’re not identified but equally there can be times where families don’t actually want to necessarily identify them for their own very good reasons and that is an issue that’s growing as well,” he said.
Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central Colm Burke has been calling for the establishment of a section under the remit of the Department of Justice for unidentified remains since 2018. He also drew up the Missing Persons Bill which was enacted in 2019.
While welcoming the establishment of the database, he said the setting-up of an office to deal specifically with unidentified remains was something which must be considered.