Excavations are currently underway at eight sites – seven in the north and one in the south – by the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), however sources said on Saturday that no remains of missing persons have yet been found.

The sources said information kept coming regarding new sites to be investigated, adding that about 300 such reports were being examined, with about a hundred looking promising.

According to Cyprus News Agency sources, excavations continued during the summer months, albeit at a lesser extent – dropping from the usual eight to just four teams in August.

Currently, seven teams are working in the north and one in the south.

Two of the teams in the north are in Assia excavating wells, either by drilling or with specialists due to the archaeological importance of the site.

Both cases concern information about Greek Cypriot missing persons, without clarifying if they were civilians or soldiers.

Another team in the north is working at Galatia in the Karpas peninsula, specifically at the village’s lake, which during the summer months dries up.

Two mass graves had been found in the lake in 2006 and 2015, leading to the identification of 18 people.

According to sources, the lake contains a third grave with up to three people. The CMP teams are still investigating, with no results yet.

A team is working in Exo Metochi in the northern area of Nicosia, after Turkish Cypriots said human remains had been spotted in a field there in 1974 and had been mechanically pushed towards an embankment.

The CMP was shown a specific point. Thirty days after investigations began, the team had not yet found anything, despite having broadened its search area.

A team is also working outside the village of Kioneli in the north, where the Greek armed forces (Eldyk) had been operating. In the past, near the excavation area, remains belonging to missing Greek soldiers had been found. So far nothing has come to light and current excavations will be wrapped up next week.

Two other excavations are underway in the north, one in Dikomo and one in Kumurcu. In Dikomo, the team is working on a riverbed after information about Greek Cypriot soldiers, while work in Kumurcu is in a like kiln, again regarding Greek Cypriots. Neither excavations have yielded results and work is ongoing.

The eighth excavation is in the south, specifically in Engomi in Nicosia, where teams are investigating seven sites with wells. Information gathered indicated that Turkish Cypriots missing since the 1963-1964 intercommunal violence were buried there. Nothing has come to light here either.

There are a total of 2,002 missing persons, of whom 1,051 have been identified to date, while exactly 216 persons have been identified after not having been included on the CMP’s official list of the missing.

Specifically, 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots went missing during the intercommunal fighting of 1963-1964 and during the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island.