Shipwreck Scavengers Stole Bodies Of WWII Sailors And Threw Them Into Mass Grave

Disgusting.

Two years ago the sunken remains of a Dutch WWII vessel mysteriously disappeared from its resting place off the coast of Java. Researchers suspected that Indonesian scavengers raised the shipwreck in order to sell its scrap metal. Now details are trickling out that the remains of the sailors onboard were simply discarded into a mass grave with no regard for their situation.

“The looting of Australian, American, British, Dutch and Japanese warships for scrap metal in south-east Asian seas has caused outrage, with veterans and governments arguing that the vessels must be preserved as underwater war graves for sailors.”

Vessels lost in combat are considered restricted areas and considered war graves under International Law. Three Dutch Battleships the de Ruyter, Java, and Kortenaer all completely vanished after the salvagers used bombs to tear apart the hull and raised the metal with a crane. Then members of the scavenger teams bragged about finding skeletal remains of the sailors, putting them in bags and then throwing them in a mass grave.

“A military wreck should remain undisturbed and those who lost their lives onboard should be allowed to rest in peace.”

Beyond sickening to have so little regard for men who died in service to their country during WWII.