RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Twenty suspected Haitian migrants have been found dead in a small boat on a remote Atlantic Ocean beach between the towns of Braganca and Quatipuru in northern Brazil.
Police said on Saturday that their bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition and showed signs of dehydration and starvation.
Fishermen spotted the boat adrift near the town of Braganca, which sits on Brazil’s northern coast in the state of Para and alerted the authorities, a federal police spokesman said.
“According to civil police and forensics experts, there were 20 bodies.
A police statement quoted the federal police chief for Braganca, Alexandre Calvinho, saying that the dead were believed to be Haitian refugees.
However, he added, further investigation is needed to confirm the cause of death and the victims’ identities.
Forensics experts will also confirm the exact number of victims, he added.
The victim appears to have died of starvation and dehydration, police said, adding that further investigation is needed.
The federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it has opened a criminal and civil investigation into the incident.
Local media reported that fishermen spotted the small boat in a remote part of the Atlantic coast between the cities of Bragança and Cuatipel.
Haiti is facing a deep humanitarian and security crisis.
The UN’s migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said this month that conditions on the ground were driving the exodus from the country.
For most Haitians, the prospect of regular migration remains an insurmountable obstacle, and illegal migration is the only sign of hope, the report said.
