An Empty Grave Still Waits: Search for Minab's Missing Child Goes On

Nearly five months after the US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school, recovery teams have identified more remains — but of nine-year-old Makan Nasiri there is still no trace

An ongoing search at the site of a US airstrike on a school in southern Iran has recovered further remains belonging to 32 of the child victims, but authorities say no trace has yet been found of Makan Nasiri, a boy who has been missing for almost five months.

Officials in Hormozgan province said on Tuesday that weeks of recovery work at the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab and the surrounding area had led to the discovery of 62 body fragments, which DNA testing identified as belonging to 32 of the students killed in the February 28 attack.

No trace of Makan

Despite the concerted efforts of several specialist teams over recent weeks, said Mojtaba Qahramani, head of Hormozgan’s judiciary, no trace of Makan Nasiri’s body had been found. Investigations into the strike, he told the Fars news agency, indicate that the US missile hit the exact spot where the boy had been standing at the moment of impact — which, he said, is why no part of his remains has been recovered despite repeated and meticulous searches.

Minab Governor Mohammad Rademehr said the 62 recovered fragments had been identified through DNA testing as belonging to 32 students, whose remains are to be buried on Wednesday at a funeral attended by the victims’ families and local residents. The search of the school and nearby areas is continuing in the hope of finding Makan.

An empty grave has already been prepared for him. His belongings — a bloodstained sweater and a single sneaker — are kept in a glass display case at a nearby mosque.

168 killed on the first day

The United States initially denied responsibility for the attack, which killed 168 children and teachers on the first day of a 39-day US-Israeli assault on Iran. Washington later sought to portray the strike as a “mistake,” but has yet to issue a formal apology or offer any compensation to the victims’ families. Investigations have found that three precision Tomahawk missiles were used to strike the school.

Reference: PressTv