Mass grave of around 800 babies and children found in Ireland

A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland. The finding confirmed a local historian's efforts to trace the fates of 800 children who perished at the facility. An underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains” has been found. The commission said DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to three years old and were buried chiefly in the 1950s, when the facility was one of more than a dozen in Ireland offering shelter to orphans, unwed mothers and their children.