Ceremonies commemorating the 19th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar ended on Saturday with a memorial service for Croatian soldiers and civilians who had been killed by Serb forces on the Ovcara farm on November 20, 1991.
The names of all 200 victims were read out and as many red roses were laid on the mass grave site.
After Yugoslav People's Army troops and Serb paramilitaries entered Vukovar on November 18, 1991, about 260 wounded people, civilians and medical staff were taken from the town hospital and two days later 200 of them were killed on the nearby Ovcara farm and buried in a mass grave. The others are still unaccounted for.
The mass grave was opened in 1996, and 193 victims have been identified to date. Three children and two pregnant women were found among the victims.
According to figures from the Vukovar hospital, during the three-month siege of the town, 1,624 Croatian soldiers and civilians were killed and 1,219 were wounded, while during the aggression and occupation of Vukovar, about 3,600 Croatian soldiers and civilians were killed.
About 7,000 Croatian prisoners of war and civilians were taken to Serb-run concentration camps, and about 22,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were expelled from the town. According to the "Vukovar Mothers" association, 325 residents of Vukovar are still listed as missing.
