Police search RAF Spitfire crash site after human remains found

POLICE have been searching the crash site of a World War II fighter plane for human remains.

• Spitfire crashed at Borders site in 1943

• Specialists helping police with search

Trained body recovery and search officers have spent today combing an area in the Borders area where an RAF Spitfire crashed.

The team are being assisted by anthropologists from Dundee University, Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification.

The site was discovered by a local group, which specialises in excavation and recovery of World War II aircraft discovered a number of bones.

The bones have been examined by anthropologists and pathologists who have confirmed they are human remains.

Detective Superintendent Lesley Boal of Lothian and Borders Police said: “While the remains were recovered at the site where a World War II Spitfire crashed on 16th January 1943, we will not be able to confirm identity until specialist forensic testing has been carried out.

“Our primary objective is to safely and securely undertake a dignified recovery of any other human remains present at the previously excavated site.”

The search is expected to be completed tomorrow.