Jessica Durando

USA TODAY

An international research team has located a tunnel in Lithuania used by Jewish prisoners to escape Nazis during World War II, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.

The team from Israel, the U.S., Canada and Lithuania used mineral and oil exploration scanning technology to pinpoint the 100-foot-long tunnel located in the Ponar forest about 10 kilometers from Vilnius, Lithuania.

Since 1944, the Ponar site has held the remains of 100,000 people executed by the Nazis, including 70,000 Jews shot and buried from July 1941 through July 1944.

The prisoners dug for 76 nights using their hands, spoons and improvised tools to make the tunnel.

"As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar. This discovery is a heartwarming witness to the victory of hope over desperation," said Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority. "The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life."

Eighty Jewish prisoners attempted an escape from the Nazi extermination pits at Ponar on April 15, 1944, the last night of Passover. About a dozen survived the trek out of the tunnel and made it to the forest and river past the camp. Eleven prisoners survived the war and gave testimonies.

"This project represents the new frontier for the study of archaeology and the Holocaust and the integration with national histories," said Richard Freund, professor of Jewish History at the University of Hartford. "Geoscience will allow testimonies of survivors—like the account of the escape through the tunnel—and many events of the Holocaust to be researched and understood in new ways for generations to come."

If you want to learn more, science series NOVA will premiere an exclusive film about the discovery on PBS in 2017.