Disaster of 2021
Garbage collectors find bones – is it one of the last missing people from the Ahr Valley flood?
The flood in the Ahr Valley on the night of July 14th to 15th, 2021 left behind debris, some of which have not yet been completely cleared away. This photo shows a destroyed railway bridge in the region, not the location of the bone parts.
© Marc John / Imago Images
In the Ahr Valley, volunteers made a gruesome discovery while collecting garbage: They discovered parts of bones. They could be the remains of one of the last missing people – but another explanation is also possible.
Even more than two years after the flood disaster Ahrtal there is still rubbish and rubble in some places that were flooded by the water masses in mid-July 2021. Garbage collection campaigns are nothing unusual there.
What was unexpected, however, was the gruesome and depressing discovery that a group of around 20 garbage collectors from all over Germany made last Sunday, as reported by SWR, among others: The volunteers found bones that may be of human origin.
The helpers were on a clean-up operation in an area that, according to the police, is difficult to access and impassable and was flooded on the night of the flood. There, next to the Remagen-Kripp Ahr estuary, the volunteers first came across a jawbone with teeth in the morning, reports SWR.
It didn’t stop with this one bone. The organizer of the garbage collection campaign told the “General Anzeiger” from Bonn that “an almost complete human skeleton” had gradually been unearthed. According to SWR, some of the bones had clothing residue on them. The garbage collectors called the police and handed over the bones. The whole situation was very depressing for the group.
Special forces and corpse detection dog in action at the site of the discovery in the Ahr Valley
On Monday, special police forces examined the location where the bone parts were found, as the police and local media reported. In a hole about one by two meters deep that the officials dug at the site, further remains were found, including a human cervical vertebra, reported the SWR. A corpse detection dog was also used.
The discovery is currently fueling speculation about the last two missing people in the flood disaster, in which at least 135 people died in the Ahr Valley on the night of July 14th to 15th. The fate of two men is still unknown. A 22-year-old was officially declared dead this summer. His body was never found. It is still unclear to this day what happened to a 60-year-old who is still missing.
According to the police, the bones found are now in the forensic medicine department in Mainz. The aim is to determine whether the remains are really human. A DNA comparison should then be used to determine whether the bones can be assigned to a specific person. Suspects that this is one of the still missing flood victims “can neither be confirmed nor denied at this time,” the police said. The Mayen Criminal Investigation Department took over the investigation in the case.
For the relatives, the certainty would probably be a closure after such a long time. However, the SWR pointed out in a TV report that there could also be another explanation for the bone discovery: At that time, cemeteries were also flooded and graves were destroyed. It cannot be ruled out that the bones of someone who has been dead for a long time were found here.
However, the skeletal parts were found in the middle of rubble, which most likely came from the flood disaster. The expectation that one of the last fates of victims of the Ahr Valley disaster can now be clarified is therefore not entirely unlikely.
Sources: SWR currently, Koblenz Police Headquarters“general indicator“, “Bild.de“
Read in the archive at stern+: On July 14, 2021, the flood swept people to their deaths and crushed entire towns. What happened after that? Five stories from the Ahr Valley, representative of thousands from the disaster areas.