Remains of Christopher Columbus could be in Seville -- or no

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041001/323/f3qqf.html



MADRID (AFP) - Analysis of bones in the cathedral of Seville in southern Spain leaves open the possibility that they are those of the explorer Christopher Columbus, a leading scientist said.

"These are partial and preliminary results but the analysis carried out could have eliminated the possibility that they are Christopher Columbus's bones," Jose Lorente, director of the genetic identification laboratory at Granada University, told a news conference in Madrid.

"Well, it does not eliminate it."

Lorente is supervising the team that has been carrying out for the last year DNA studies of the remains of Columbus, his brother Hernando and his son Diego.

"The trouble is that I have never come across bone fragments in such bad condition."

The Dominican Republic in the Caribbean argues that the remains of the great navigator are on its territory at the Columbus lighthouse in Santo Domingo.