Irish officials have begun excavating the grounds of a former home for unwed mothers which authorities say contains the remains of around 800 babies and young children who died there.
“It’s a very, very difficult, harrowing story and situation,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Monday. “We have to wait to see what unfolds now as a result of the excavation.”
The former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in western Ireland — which closed in 1961 and was run by Catholic nuns — was one of many mother-and-baby homes during the 20th century in the European country. The homes housed unmarried pregnant women as well as tens of thousands of orphans, according to The Associated Press.