Bodies of Georgians found in mass grave in Abkhazia to return home
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After 21 years from Babushera tragedy, excavation of the Georgian remains found in mass grave in Abkhazia at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport has begun, with Georgian authorities hoping to identify the remains and return the bodies’ home to Georgia.
A plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera airport in Sokhumi on September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war. The event happened a few days before Tbilisi lost the battle for Sukhumi on September 27, 1993.
Today, authorities are beginning to excavate the graves at the Babushera cemetery and are tasked with identifying the bodies so they can be returned to their relatives.
The opening of graves in the breakaway region of Georgia will continue until May 26. International humanitarian aid group Red Cross is facilitating cooperation between de-facto Abkhaz authorities and Georgian officials, Minister of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees David Darakhvelidze announced today.
About 20 people survived the plane accident.
It is believed 36 graves of Georgian citizens still remain at Babushera cemetery, said the founder of the ‘Molodini (Waiting) for Finding Lost People’ fund, Nineli Andriadze, who lost her son in the Abkhaz war.
To date, 47 bodies have been transferred from the grave site. The last transfer happened in 2001. Four of the 47 bodies have been reburied by the victim’s families. Forty-three lie in the Vashlijvari Cemetery in Tbilisi while 22 remain unidentified.
"Negotiations to transfer the bodies renewed in 2006 but at the last moment the deal was cancelled,” Andriadze said.
Now international experts will take part in the identification process of the unidentified remains. Andriadze said DNA samples would be taken from those 22 unidentified bodies to help discover who they are.
"The transfer of the remains to Tbilisi will start from May 26 and after the identification process, the bodies will return to their families,” Darakhvelidze said.
Babushera Airport, located in the capital city of breakaway region Abkhazia, has been closed to regular flights since 1993.
See the video of the Babushera Airport incident in Sokhumi in September 1993. Property of Georgia's Public Broadcaster.
It's been 21 years since the Babushera tragedy in Abkhazia and the bodies of thirteen Georgians who died in the crash are finally being returned home. A plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera Airport in Sokhumi on September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war.
The bodies of 31 Georgians who died in a plane crash in Abkhazia have returned home, 21 years on from the tragedy.
Georgian officials from the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia are heading abroad to speed up the process of returning the bodies of the victims of the Abkhazia crisis(1992-1994) back to Georgia.
A meeting between Georgian and representatives of the de-facto Government of beakaway Abkhazia met face-to-face and agreed to excavate cemeteries in Georgia and Abkhazia and return victims of the Abkhaz crisis to their hometowns.
Four bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified, enabling a Georgian woman who has dressed in black for the past 21 years to finally give her loved ones a proper burial.
Four soldiers who died in a plane crash while on a military mission 21 years ago have been buried with full military honours at the Digomi Brothers’ Cemetery today.
Georgian Ministry of Refugees officials and representatives of the de-facto Abkhazian government met today under the auspices of the International Red Cross Commission where they discussed issues relating to the searching and transferring of bodies of those missing since the Georgia-Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
Five bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and returned to their families.
Eleven mass graves in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region and nearby territory will soon be opened to find and identify bodies of those missing since the Abkhazian conflict in the early 1990s.
The bodies of 12 Georgians found in mass grave in Abkhazia, at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport have been identified and returned to their loved ones for an honourable burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced today that the remains of another 22 people who went missing due to the 1992–93 armed conflict in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and will be handed over to their families shortly.