Jan van den Berg stares out on the sea the place his father vanished seven many years in the past — misplaced in a storm simply days earlier than his delivery. 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 have been buried in unnamed graves.
Regardless of the tragedy, Van den Berg — the final of six kids — turned a fisherman like his brothers, defying their mom’s terror that the North Sea would declare her sons too.
“We by no means discovered his physique,” he advised AFP in a low voice, mumbling below the brim of his hat.
However after many years of uncertainty, advances in DNA expertise and synthetic intelligence have given Van den Berg renewed hope.
Researchers at the moment are in a position to match stays with dwelling relations extra precisely than ever earlier than, providing households long-awaited solutions and the prospect to lastly mourn correctly.
NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP through Getty Pictures
“Many households nonetheless gaze on the entrance door, hoping their loved-one will stroll by way of it,” stated 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. Utilizing fashionable tech, we have a look at the climate and currents on the time of the shipwreck to estimate the place the fishermen might need washed ashore,” the 60-year-old stated.
Man lacking for 47 years returned to household
The muse, Identiteit Gezocht (Identification Sought), goals to listing all unknown graves on the coasts of the North Sea, hoping to establish stays.
The brand new searches have already borne fruit. A physique was lately exhumed on Schiermonnikoog, a small island north of the Netherlands, and returned to the household.
“This man had been lacking for 47 years. In spite of everything this time, DNA and this new methodology of labor made it doable to find he got here from Urk,” stated Hakvoort.
One other Hakvoort, Frans Hakvoort, leads the inspiration with the help of his two brothers in Urk, a tight-knit Protestant group 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 seek for press articles revealed after a physique washed ashore, presumably in particular circumstances,” stated Frans Hakvoort, 44.
“We enter all this info right into a database to see if we are able to set up a hyperlink. If that’s the case, we contact native authorities to see if they will exhume the physique.”
The Netherlands leads different North Sea nations in figuring out the lacking, he stated, with about 90 p.c 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 stated.
The muse has referred to as on the general public to assist establish unknown graves in Germany and Denmark.
“Denmark and Germany particularly are of nice significance in the intervening time, as a result of we anticipate that comparatively many fishermen have washed ashore there. All assistance is welcome, we additionally need to attraction to holidaymakers,” Frans Hakvoort advised the Het Ukerland newspaper.
The muse works primarily with volunteers and has to make do with cash from donors and sponsors. Hakvoort advised NOS that lately one member of the general public donated 5,000 euros to the trigger.
“It stays an open wound”
Jan van den Berg runs his fingers over his father’s title, engraved on a monument overlooking Urk seaside to honour misplaced fishermen.
The listing 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 lady, her again turned to the ocean, represents all these moms and wives hoping their loved-one returns.
“My father disappeared throughout a storm on a freezing October night time in 1954,” says Van den Berg.
“One morning he left the port heading for the North Sea. He was not speculated to be gone lengthy as a result of I used to be about to be born.”
His uncle, who was additionally aboard, later stated his father was on deck when wild waves flipped the boat over.
The tragedy nonetheless haunts the household to this present day.
“Once they pulled the nets on deck with fish, my older brothers at all times feared there may be one thing that seemed like a human,” van den Berg stated.
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 have been by no means discovered.
“Not a day goes by with out considering of them, all these males, and that’s the reason I participate within the searches and provides my DNA, as a result of it stays an open wound,” he stated. “I want to have not less than a small bone of my father to put in my mom’s grave.”
