- 19 suspected migrants from West Africa found dead in drifting fishing boat
- St Kitts and Nevis finds 13 decomposing bodies in boat adrift in Caribbean
Nineteen bodies were found drifting in a boat off the coast of St. Kitts and Nevis, a Caribbean country. Authorities believe the boat had drifted from the African coast with migrants on board. This marks the first such discovery in recent memory in the twin-island nation.
At least 19 bodies have been found drifting at sea off the coast of the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, local authorities announced on Thursday (January 30).
“We are not certain, but we believe that this vessel originated off the West African coast,” Police Commissioner James Sutton told the news agency the Associated Press (AP). “It was a fishing vessel, which is not typically found in the Caribbean,” he noted.
Police and medical officials have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
The St. Kitts and Nevis Coast Guard responded to reports of a drifting vessel off the coast of Nevis on Wednesday around 11:30 am. The partially submerged boat was found to contain decomposed human remains and was then towed to St. Kitts for investigation.
Officer Sutton said that authorities now face the challenging task of identifying the bodies and determining their exact number, as the advanced state of decomposition has complicated the process.
