Jan van den Berg stares out on the sea the place his father vanished seven a long time in the past — misplaced in a storm simply days earlier than his beginning. Now aged 70, he clings to the hope of discovering even the smallest fragment of his father’s stays.
In Urk, a fishing village within the northern Netherlands, the ocean has lengthy been the lifeblood for households — however has usually taken family members in return.
Some our bodies by no means surfaced. Others washed ashore on German or Danish coasts and had been buried in unnamed graves.
Regardless of the tragedy, Van den Berg — the final of six kids — grew to become a fisherman like his brothers, defying their mom’s terror that the North Sea would declare her sons too.
“We never found his body,” he advised AFP in a low voice, mumbling below the brim of his hat.
However after a long time of uncertainty, advances in DNA know-how and synthetic intelligence have given Van den Berg renewed hope.
Researchers at the moment are in a position to match stays with residing kinfolk extra precisely than ever earlier than, providing households long-awaited solutions and the prospect to lastly mourn correctly.
NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“Many families still gaze at the front door, hoping their loved-one will walk through it,” mentioned Teun Hakvoort, an Urk resident who serves as spokesperson for a brand new basis devoted to finding and figuring out fishermen misplaced at sea.
“All sunken boats have been mapped. Using modern tech, we look at the weather and currents at the time of the shipwreck to estimate where the fishermen might have washed ashore,” the 60-year-old mentioned.
Man lacking for 47 years returned to household
The inspiration, Identiteit Gezocht (Id Sought), goals to checklist all unknown graves on the coasts of the North Sea, hoping to determine stays.
The brand new searches have already borne fruit. A physique was just lately exhumed on Schiermonnikoog, a small island north of the Netherlands, and returned to the household.
“This man had been missing for 47 years. After all this time, DNA and this new method of work made it possible to discover he came from Urk,” mentioned Hakvoort.
One other Hakvoort, Frans Hakvoort, leads the muse with the help of his two brothers in Urk, a tight-knit Protestant neighborhood the place sure household names steadily reoccur.
The three males, who’ve all misplaced a relative at sea, dedicate their free time to looking for the lacking.
“With AI, we search for press articles published after a body washed ashore, possibly in specific circumstances,” mentioned Frans Hakvoort, 44.
“We enter all this information into a database to see if we can establish a link. If so, we contact local authorities to see if they can exhume the body.”
The Netherlands leads different North Sea international locations in figuring out the lacking, he mentioned, with about 90 % of unknown our bodies exhumed and all DNA profiles saved in a European database.
Given the same old fishing areas and prevailing currents, Urk fishermen usually tend to be buried on German or Danish coasts, he mentioned.
The inspiration has known as on the general public to assist determine unknown graves in Germany and Denmark.
“Denmark and Germany in particular are of great importance at the moment, because we expect that relatively many fishermen have washed ashore there. All help is welcome, we also want to appeal to holidaymakers,” Frans Hakvoort advised the Het Ukerland newspaper.
The inspiration works primarily with volunteers and has to make do with cash from donors and sponsors. Hakvoort advised NOS that just lately one member of the general public donated 5,000 euros to the trigger.
“It remains an open wound”
Jan van den Berg runs his fingers over his father’s identify, engraved on a monument overlooking Urk seashore to honour misplaced fishermen.
The checklist is lengthy. Greater than 300 names — fathers, brothers, and sons, with dates stretching again to the 18th century.
Among the many names are about 30 fishermen by no means discovered. Kees Korf, lacking since 1997 aged 19. Americo Martins, 47, in 2015.
A statue of a girl, her again turned to the ocean, represents all these moms and wives hoping their loved-one returns.
“My father disappeared during a storm on a freezing October night in 1954,” says Van den Berg.
“One morning he left the port heading for the North Sea. He was not supposed to be gone long because I was about to be born.”
His uncle, who was additionally aboard, later mentioned his father was on deck when wild waves flipped the boat over.
The tragedy nonetheless haunts the household to this present day.
“When they pulled the nets on deck with fish, my older brothers always feared there might be something that looked like a human,” van den Berg mentioned.
In 1976, his uncle’s boat disappeared with two of his cousins, aged 15 and 17, additionally on board.
He was amongst those that discovered the physique of Jan Jurie, the eldest, 4 months later.
The others had been by no means discovered.
“Not a day goes by without thinking of them, all those men, and that is why I take part in the searches and give my DNA, because it remains an open wound,” he mentioned. “I would like to have at least a small bone of my father to place in my mother’s grave.”
