Probe Into Remains At Top US War Cemetery

11:26pm UK, Friday December 03, 2010

Sally Arthy, US News Editor, Washington

A criminal investigation has been launched at America's top military cemetery after the remains of eight people were found in a single grave marked 'unknown'.

Some three hundred thousand people are buried at Arlington

Records at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington showed there was only one set of cremated remains interred in the grave

But in late October officials became aware of "questionable practices" and asked the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CIC) look into allegations involving multiple burials.

Arlington spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst says investigators have now identified three of the sets of remains. One set could not be identified and has been reburied.

A top military forensic anthropologist from Hawaii was called in.

The probe comes on top of revelations earlier this year that more than 200 graves had been mismarked on cemetery maps.

A soldier killed in Afghanistan is buried with full military honours

It also emerged that at least four urns had been unearthed and dumped in an area for excess dirt.

CIC spokesman Christopher Grey the earlier problems might have been due to human error.

But the placement of eight urns in one grave was " unlikely to be by mistake."

Three hundred thousand people are buried at Arlington, which was officially designated as a military cemetery in 1864.

More than four million people visit the site each year, many from abroad.