Families Recover Sailors’ Remains After 53 Years

Why this is here: After a half-century of uncertainty, the association of families compiled a 225-page dossier to advocate for the exhumation and identification of the sailors.

In Lanzarote, Spain, José Manuel Pose recently recovered the remains of his father, Julio Pose, who died in a 1973 fishing boat accident. For decades, the families of the ten sailors aboard the Domenech de Varó believed their loved ones were lost at sea. However, after the ship wrecked off the coast of Mala, the bodies washed ashore and were buried in unmarked niches in the Arrecife cemetery.

In 2023, the families began investigating the circumstances of the shipwreck and discovered the bodies had been buried without proper identification. They formed an association to fund exhumations and DNA testing, successfully petitioning the courts to open five unmarked graves. The process revealed errors in the original identifications, including one case where a wedding band on a skeleton didn’t match the presumed sailor.

While most remains have been positively identified, securing financial aid for repatriation to Cádiz has proven difficult due to the passage of time. The families will cremate the remains to facilitate transport. The work to bring closure continues as they prepare to return the sailors home.