Belgrade, September 1, 2001 - An investigation and excavation of a mass grave suspected to contain the remains of ethnic Albanians killed during the 1999 NATO bombing at Lake Perucac, near Bajina Basta is to begin next week, Radio B92 reports.

It is unofficially confirmed that the grave is located at the mouth of the Derventa River at Lake Perucac. As B92 has learned, an investigative judge has not yet ordered the excavation. Therefore, it is expected that work will not start on Monday, but sometime during the upcoming week.

Refrigerator trucks with the bodies of Kosovo Albanians, it is assumed, were sunk in Lake Perucac during the 1999 NATO bombing. The bodies later appeared on the surface, and were buried secretly. It is estimated that at the mouth of the Derventa river at Perucac reservoir some 60 to 80 bodies were buried.