UN Claims 20,000 Unidentified Bodies are Stored at Bogota El Dorado Airport

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances has recently made a disturbing claim: over 20,000 unidentified bodies are allegedly stored in a hangar at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport. Following its visit to Colombia, the UN Committee issued a damning report highlighting the presence of tens of thousands of disappeared persons across the country.

UPDATE: Colombia Denies There Are 20,000 Corpses at Bogota Airport

UN claims thousands of unidentified bodies are stored at Bogota El Dorado airport

“Colombia is confronted with thousands of unidentified bodies, in the ground, underground, but also in vaults and so-called ‘pools,'” reads the UN Committee’s report.

Among the most striking findings is the alleged presence of bodies in infrastructure adjacent to Bogota’s airport, the largest in the country.

“According to the information provided to the delegation, there are also around 20,000 unidentified corpses in a hangar at Bogota’s airport,” the organization states.

Opain, the Colombian private company that operates the airport, responded to the UN’s claim, stating that it had no knowledge of the reported information. “Regarding the news reported in some media outlets about the alleged existence of a hangar with thousands of deceased bodies, Opain, the concessionaire of El Dorado International Airport, informs the public that it has no knowledge of these facts,” the company said.

The UN delegation specified that the purpose of the revelation was to raise awarness to Colombian authorities about the issue. “These are not newly discovered bodies. They are bodies that are being kept in a hangar. There is no space to continue preserving the remains or the bodies that have been found. Hence our very specific recommendation: it is essential to provide infrastructure, human resources, and financial resources to establish proper storage,” a delegation member stated.

RELATED: UN Denies Links to Committee that Claims 20,000 Bodies Stored at Colombia Airport

Raising awareness on enforced disappearances

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances called on Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) to open a case to investigate the phenomenon due to its national scope.

“The delegation is particularly concerned about the state of the institutions responsible for identifying the located bodies and remains. The available material and human resources do not allow for an adequate response to the demand,” declared the UN delegation.

Along with forced displacement, enforced disappearance is one of the most painful realities stemming from Colombia’s armed conflict. In its report, the UN claims that between 98,000 and 200,000 people are missing in Colombia, staggering numbers that are, nevertheless, difficult to quantify due to the lack of reliable records.

Colombia’s Unit for the Search for Disappeared Persons estimates the figure at 124,734.

Javier Sarmiento, Colombia’s Deputy Attorney General for Human Rights, announced that the Attorney General’s Office would investigate the matter. “The Attorney General has ordered the immediate request of information from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences to confirm or refute this information since the Committee cited them as its source. Additionally, an immediate visit will be conducted at El Dorado airport,” he stated.