‘Sea of skeletons off Argentina’

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 1

‘Sea of skeletons off Argentina’

NZPA London A British vessel sailing off the Argentine coast early this year is reported to have discovered a large number of skeletons lying on the sea bed with their feet encased in concrete, it was reported in London .yesterday. According .to the “Guardian” newspaper's Washington correspondent, the incident has been reported to representatives of the N.A.T.O. countries by a member of the British defence staff in Washington. Although accounts of the statement are now circulating among European diplomats in the United States, an embassy ■ spokesman refused all comment.

But according to other diplomatic sources in Washington .who . asked not to be identified,. the details were related by Rear-Admiral J. B. Hervey, the embassy's naval attache. '

Western diplomats said he told of a British vessel, on a routine voyage, anchoring off the coast some weeks before the Falklands crisis erupted: When the ship was ready to resume sailing, it found its anchor had become fouled and could not be raised. A diver who went down to deal with the obstruction discovered what was described as “a sea of skeletons.” All were weighed down with concrete blocks on their feet and some .-of the victims

appeared to have been decapitated. . : ' •

“The ‘Guardian’ correspondent, Harold Jackson, said the available accounts of the admiral’s statement did not make clear whether he simply reported these bare facts. or whether the subsequent speculation also came from him.' '

“He appears to have been explaining to diplomatic colleagues that Britain’s reaction to the Falklands invasion was partly attributable to the discovery of these skeletons, allied to the well documented , record of the Argentinian military regime in eradicating its political opponents,” said Mr Jackson.