Exhumation of civil war dead from Spain’s Valley of Cuelgamuros begins

Scientists aim to analyse remains of 128 people recovered from basilica where thousands were buried

Forensic scientists are beginning efforts to exhume the remains of 128 people from the huge basilica outside Madrid where 34,000 dead from both sides of the Spanish civil war were buried, and where the body of Gen Francisco Franco also lay for almost half a century.

The exhumations at the Valley of Cuelgamuros – known until last year as the Valley of the Fallen – come after the families of some of those interred there spent almost two decades fighting for their loved ones to receive a dignified burial.