On 21 May of that year, 297 monks and 23 laymen were killed.[11] Overall, between 1,700 and 2,100 civilians were slaughtered in two mass executions on 21 May and 26 May.[12] Although when Buxton visited Debre Libanos in the mid-1940s, he found the remains of these victims were plainly visible ("Here were innumerable bones and skulls – bones in bags and bones in boxes, bones lying in confused heaps, awaiting burial").[3] A cross-shaped tomb was afterwards built to contain their remains, standing next to the parking lot.[13]