TEAMS BEGIN EXHUMING MASS GRAVE NEAR VUKOVAR STADIUM

( Editorial: --> 3774 ) ZAGREB, June 25 (Hina) - Exhumation teams of the Government's Commission for Imprisoned and Missing Persons on Thursday started exhuming a mass grave near Vukovar's City Stadium. According to the Commission's information, the grave contains 68 victims of the Serbian aggression. Although it originally planned it for August, the teams decided to expedite the exhumation. The decisions was motivated by several considerations. One of them was a keen interest of the victims' relatives for the exhumation to be completed by summer vacations. Furthermore, both the weather and the sanitary conditions are now favourable for exhumation, Commission chairman Colonel Ivan Grujic said. He announced that simultaneously with the exhumation of the mass grave, the Commission would start exhuming individual graves. Since Thursday morning 22 bodies had been exhumed and another 20 identified at the Vukovar's New Cemetery. Colonel Grujic confirmed that exhumations at the New Cemetery would be completed on Friday. Since April 28 exhumations at that cemetery have yielded 915 bodies. So far 574 of them have been identified. (Hina) mro jn /mbr 252221 MET jun 98