Red Cross discovers another body in Falkland mass grave

The team discovered the body while examining a grave in Darwin cemetery

Red Cross members on June 20, 2017, mark graves at the Darwin cemetery in the Falkland Islands before corpses are exhumed for identification. AFP / ICRC

Red Cross experts identifying the remains of Argentinian soldiers killed in the Falklands war on Thursday said they discovered another body buried in a common grave.

This week, a mission led by the International Committee of the Red Cross began examining a grave at Darwin cemetery, which was believed to have contained four soldiers.

But as work got under way, the team discovered a fifth body in grave C.1.10.

"We are now sure that there are at least five people buried in this grave," mission member Luis Fondebrider said on Thursday. "Now begins the work of identification."

Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, with Britain regaining control after a 10-week war in which 649 Argentines, 255 British troops and three islanders were killed.

After the war, 237 Argentinian soldiers were buried in 230 graves in the Darwin cemetery.

Four years ago, the Red Cross exhumed the remains of 122 Argentinian soldiers from unmarked graves, of whom 115 were identified by DNA testing.

The Falklands are a self-governing UK overseas territory that have been under sole British control since 1833.

Argentina has disputed British sovereignty since the 1940s.