Jan Van Den Berg stared at the sea, where his father disappeared seven decades ago, lost in the storm a few days before his birth. Now, at the age of 70, he fits into the hope of finding even the smallest fragment of his father’s remains.
In Urke, in the fishing village in the northern Netherlands, the sea has been vital for the family for a long time, but has often taken relatives.
Some bodies have never shown. Others werehed the shore on the German or Denmark and were buried in the nameless graves.
Despite the tragedy, Van Den Berg, the last of the six children, became a fisherman as his brothers, despite their mother’s terror, that the North Sea would claim his sons.
“We never found his body,” he said with a low voice of AFP, murmuring under his hat.
However, after decades of uncertainty, DNA technology and artificial intelligence progress provided Van Den Berg’s updated hope.
Researchers can now be more accurate than ever to combine with living loved ones, offering families with long -awaited answers and the ability to finally get sad.
“Many families are still looking at the front door, hoping that their” lover-one “will go past it,” said Urk resident Teun Hakoort, a representative of the new fund to identify and identify the fishermen in the sea.
“All drowning boats were planned. Using modern technology, we look at the air and currents during the ship’s accident to evaluate where the fishermen could wash the shore,” the 60-year-old said.
– found after 47 years –
The Identteit Gezocht Foundation aims to list all unknown graves on the North Sea coast, hoping to set the remains.
New searches have already been yielding fruit. Recently, on Schiermonnikoogo, a small island north of the Netherlands, an exhumed body and returned to the family.
“This man has disappeared for 47 years. After this time, DNA and this new work method made it possible to discover it from URK,” Hakvoort said.
Another Hakvoort, Frans Hakvoort, leads the foundation, supporting his two brothers in the UK, strictly connecting the Protestant community, where certain family names often recur.
Three men, all of whom have lost a relative in the sea, devote their leisure time to find missing.
“We are looking for press articles published under the shore of the body, perhaps in certain circumstances,” said Frans Hakvoort, 44.
“We include all this information in the database to find out if we can create a link. If so, we contact local authorities to find out if they can highlight the body.”
According to him, the Netherlands are leading other countries of the North Sea to determine the disappearance of about 90 percent of unknown bodies and all DNA profiles stored in the European database.
He said that, given the usual fishing areas and the prevailing currents, URK fishermen are more likely to be buried on German or Denmark.
The Foundation urged the public to help identify unknown graves in Germany and Denmark.
– Human remains –
Jan Van Den Berg crosses his fingers through his father’s name engraved on a monument with which he overlooks Urk Beach to honor the lost fishermen.
The list is long. More than 300 names – parents, brothers and sons, dates extend until the 18th century.
There are about 30 fishermen among the names that have never been found. Kees Corf, disappeared since 1997, 19 years old. Americo Martins, 47, 2015
A woman’s statue, her back, turned to the sea, represents all these mothers and wives, hoping that their loved ones will return.
“My father disappeared during a storm on the night of October 1954,” says Van Den Berg.
“One morning he left the harbor going to the North Sea. He didn’t have to last long because I was about to be born.”
His uncle, who was also on board, later claimed that his father was on the deck when the wild wave turned the boat.
The tragedy is still chasing the family so far.
“When they pulled their nets on the deck with fish, my older brothers always feared that there could be something that seemed like a human,” said Van Den Berg.
1976 His uncle’s boat disappeared with two cousins from 15 and 17, as well as on board.
He was one of those who found the body of Jan Jurie, the elder after four months.
Others have never been found.
“No day passes without thinking about them, all those men, so I participate in search and give my DNA because it remains an open wound,” he said.
“I would like to have at least a small bone of my father who could enter my mother’s grave.” And finally, you will be able to mourn.
CVO/SRG/RIC/GV