Five bodies unearthed at Babushera’s mass grave in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region have been identified and returned to their families.
Authorities managed to identify the bodies of the 1993 tragic plane crash victims as a result of DNA testing carried out in Zagreb, Croatia.
The Georgians, who died while attempting to complete a humanitarian mission 22 years ago, are lying in state at the country’s main cathedral, the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, where citizens can pay their respects today. Later this afternoon the bodies will be reburied at the Doghomi Brother’s Cemetery in Tbilisi.
On September 22, 1993 a plane flying from Tbilisi to Sokhumi – the capital city of breakaway Abkhazia - was shot down while it attempted to land at Babushera Airport. The aircraft crashed on the runway, killing 108 of the 132 people on board.
See a multimedia story about the victims and survivors of the tragedy here.
The tragic crash came four days before the 13-month war in Abkhazia ended.
The flight was carrying soldiers and doctors, who were on a humanitarian mission. Those on board were planning to help civilians in Sokhumi and take the wounded back to Tbilisi.
On May 8, 2014 the Babushera mass grave was opened after lengthy negotiations between Tbilisi and Sokhumi’s de facto leadership. The negotiations were supported by the International Red Cross Commission.
As a result of the negotiations, 30 victims of the Babushera plane crash were unearthed from the Babushera mass grave in Abkhazia and transferred to Georgia. DNA samples of unidentified victims were sent to Croatia, which resulted in the identification of four bodies.
These bodies were earlier returned to Tbilisi and their families.
DNA testing is still ongoing in the Croatian capital to identify the remaining bodies unearthed from the mass grave.