Human bones found on beach near eroding graveyard

Bones that were collected from the beach below the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Marches Point Tuesday came from at least three graves, and others are currently under threat due to erosion in the area.

Heavy rain and high winds last week combined with waves and spray from the ocean battering the embankment exacerbateda long-running erosion problem in the cemetery on the Port au Port Peninsula, part of which has been slowly crumbling into the ocean for years.

"The ground conditions are very loose and easily undermined," said Father Gerard Patry with of Our Lady of the Cape Parish in Cape St. George.

"As a result some of the graves and remains have been falling down over the bank and into the beach area," he told CBC Radio's Corner Brook Morning Show.

Not the first time

Patry said the embankment has been gradually eroding for about 30 years.

On at least five occasions, remains have been collected from the beach and relocated to another area of the cemetery.

"The ground [is] constantly moving, even as we stood there and watched it, it was still falling," he said.

"There's nothing there holding it, it just gradually continues to erode."

The bones, including skulls, that were collected this week are from graves dating back to the early 1900s. They are believed to be connected tothe graves ofthree headstones still standing at the edge of the embankment above.

"We can see names on those headstones so we are assuming that the remains that had fallen directly down from that area would be connected with that person who was buried there."

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After police gave the all clear, the bones were gathered and will be stored in boxes until the spring when new graves will be dug in another part of the still operational cemetery.

More graves in jeopardy

Further along the embankment there are other burial sites, now just depressions in the ground as wooden markers would have rotted away long ago.

Patry said they eventually hope to exhume at least 20 bodies and move them to a more secure location.