Human remains found in WWII bomber in IJsselmeer

Salvage workers found human remains in a British WWII bomber in the IJsselmeer. The Ministry of Defense started the salvage operation on Monday and expects it to take several weeks, NU.nl reports.

A German fighter plane shot down the Lancaster ED603 bomber in 1943 near the Frisian village of Kornwerderzand. Shortly before its downing, the Lancaster had dropped bombs over Bochum in Germany. Seven crew members were aboard the British military plane, none of whom survived the crash.

The bodies of four crew members washed up on the Frisian coast a few days after the Lancaster was shot down. But the remains of the three other occupants had never been found. The Ministry is currently investigating whether the remains found in the bomber belong to the missing crew members, a spokesperson told NU.nl.

The spokesperson couldn’t yet say whether the remains were of one person or more than one.