Refined information and new survey used in search for 'Disappeared' victim McVeigh

NEW IMAGING surveys of ground conditions at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan are assisting in a resumed search for the body of Columba McVeigh.

Mr McVeigh, from Donaghmore in Co Tyrone, was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1975 when aged 19. He had been working as a painter in Dublin and had returned to Northern Ireland a few days before his abduction.

The search for his body is being conducted by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains.

The commission said it was resuming the search based on a “refinement of information received” and the results of a new survey of ground conditions using imaging equipment, including ground-penetrating radar.

The technology can detect disturbances in ground conditions and reflect differences in materials not visible to the naked eye.

The survey has been undertaken since May of this year after a previous search was ineffective. The dig is being seen as an extension of the previous one, and not a new inquiry. Searches were previously carried out in the surrounding area near the Border town of Emyvale.

Afforestation in the area in the intervening decades is complicating efforts to find the remains.

Mr McVeigh’s family have said they are “100 per cent certain” his body is buried in the area being covered by the excavations. His mother Vera had campaigned tirelessly for the return of his body, but died in 2007 aged 82.

The IRA has admitted responsibility for the deaths of 13 out of 16 people identified as “Disappeared” during the Troubles. The INLA admitted to one death. The disappearances of the remaining two have not been attributed to any group. The remains of nine have been found, including those of Jean McConville, which were uncovered by natural erosion at a beach in Co Louth in 2003.