Spain opens door to 31 exhumations in the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum

FILE PHOTO: A view of the helicopter carrying the coffin of late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco at The Valle de los Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen) in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, October 24, 2019. Chema Moya/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish authorities said on Wednesday they would endeavour to exhume some of the thousands of civil war victims in the Valley of the Fallen, weeks after the remains of dictator Francisco Franco were ferried out of the mausoleum by helicopter.

The imposing state-run mausoleum near Madrid, carved into a mountain and topped by a 150-metre cross, has long served as a mass grave for nearly 34,000 Spaniards who died during the civil war unleashed by Franco from 1936-1939.