Queen's geologist helps in search for Colombia’s ‘disappeared’
26/May/2009
A Queen's University geologist has been helping Colombian police recover the bodies of thousands of the country’s ‘disappeared’, it emerged yesterday.
Dr Alastair Ruffell from Queen’s School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology joined a team of international experts at the first Ibero-American conference in Forensic Geology in the Colombia — the first conference of its kind in South America.
Dr Ruffell was involved in the search for one of Northern Ireland’s ‘disappeared’ — Belfast woman Jean McConville — in 2002 and has been asked for his opinion on other disappeared cases.
He has also been involved in searches for missing persons throughout Ireland and Europe.
Dr Ruffell has reviewed geological evidence in high-profile murder cases and serious crimes throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom.
“Colombia has a long and complex legacy of crime. Many victims of violence have been buried in unmarked graves and there are suspicions of genocide and the existence of mass graves,” he said.
“The Colombian authorities want to locate these burial sites to help bring some closure to the families of the ‘disappeared’ and bring their murderers to justice. Forensic Geology, or Geoforensics, can play an important role in this process.”
Geoforensics is a specialist branch of geology that helps the authorities and
humanitarian organisations solve crimes and recover buried persons.
Full Story: Belfast Telegraph
(Tags: mass graves, missing people, search)