Nine decaying bodies are discovered by Brazilian authorities off the coast of Para in the north. According to an initial examination, the boat left Mauritania after January 17.
According to Brazilian police looking into the horrifying finding of nine decomposed bodies on a boat, the deceased were probably African refugees from Mauritania and Mali.
According to the quantity of raincoats discovered within the boat, investigators indicated on Tuesday afternoon that it is estimated that the boat carried at least 25 passengers.
“Documents and objects found near the bodies indicate that the victims were migrants from the African continent, from the region of Mauritania and Mali,” said the previous statement.
The police noted that the deceased may have been of different nationalities.
Police initially reported that 20 people had died and that they thought the migrants were from Haiti.
According to a preliminary examination of documents discovered on board, the yacht left Mauritania after January 17, according to Brazilian officials on Tuesday.
On Saturday, fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Para, Brazil’s northernmost state, discovered the boat abandoned.
The head of the state’s Federal Police, Jose Roberto Peres, informed a local television network that the area where the passengers might have become disoriented is thought to be 4,800 kilometers from the coast of Para.
According to him, forensic investigation into the dead and the ship is still ongoing.
Brazil was most likely not the intended destination for the about 12-meter white and blue canoe-shaped boat, which bears similarities to Mauritius fishing boats known as pirogues. These boats are commonly used by refugees from West Africa and other regions who are fleeing to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Authorities have stated that the bodies were discovered in a highly advanced condition of decomposition.
Risky path
One of the riskiest travel routes in the world connects West Africa with the European Union.
Atlantic trade winds and currents have the power to carry boats that miss their goal, carrying them from east to west for months at a time.
Refugees on board frequently pass away from starvation and dehydration. In desperation, some people have also been known to jump into the ocean.
At least seven vessels from northwest Africa were discovered in the Caribbean and Brazil in 2021, all of them carrying dead people, according to an Associated Press investigation that was published the previous year.
European officials are concerned about the 500% increase in migration this year from the northwest coast of Africa to Spain. Even though Mauritania and the European Union reached a 210 million euro pact in February, most of the departures have come from that West African country.
According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, more than 13,000 refugees have arrived in the Canaries so far in 2024, but hundreds more have gone missing.
Families in Mauritania have even established a “national commission” tasked with finding the missing migrants. Families who spoke with AP said they had been anxiously awaiting the news of the boat discovered in Brazil.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
