Identification of bodies found in a boat adrift in PA will still have two stages of Interpol protocol, says PF | For

The suspicion is that the vessel was adrift, depending on sea currents and wind, for around two months. The PF is still unable to specify exactly when people died during this period, but states that the deaths could have occurred at least a month ago.

According to Carlos Eduardo Palhares, director of the PF’s National Institute of Criminalistics, the experts managed to collect seven of the nine fingerprints. The expertise also works with dental data and forensic genetics, better known as DNA testing.

The third stage of the identification process, which has yet to be completed, is collecting data to reach the victims’ families. According to the PF, information on cell phones and documents should help. The fourth will be validation, based on the comparison of the information collected with international lists of missing people.

“Until then, we have complied with two steps of the Interpol identification protocol – the collect and the analysis of bodies. The other two are data collection with family members; and the fourth and last is the comparison of data to confirm who the passengers were and their origin. International agencies are helping us with this and we believe that, in the coming weeks, it will be possible to generate a passenger list based on contact with family members.”

Bodies found in a boat adrift in Pará are buried in Belém

With the victims, 27 cell phones were found next to the bodies and documents, which indicated the presence of more people on the boat, including women. The devices can still help with investigations, but expectations are low, according to Palhares.

“The tracking of cell phones, which have already oxidized over time, will be able to indicate where they operated, we will contact operators in African countries to possibly find out who owned that device and extract the data successfully, but the The greater chance is that we won’t succeed.”

Cooking equipment and two jerrycans, which may have been used to store water or fuel, and 25 raincoats were also found on the boat.

As a way of giving dignity to the victims, the bodies were temporarily buried this Thursday (25) in a municipal cemetery in Belém from inhumation – a procedure that allows, after being identified, family members to request exhumation of the victims to bury them in their country of origin, for example.

“We imagine that a person who leaves a country in Africa, subjecting themselves to these conditions to try for a better life, would probably not have the financial means or a place for their body to be taken, so we imagine that even if identified, it will be It’s difficult for these bodies to return to Africa and that’s why we made a point of having a dignified burial”, explains Palhares.

PF confirmed that there were no children among the dead who were on a boat found dead in Pará

Bodies found in a drifting boat are buried in Belém

The boat with the bodies was found on April 13 by fishermen near an island in Bragança, on the coast of Pará.

Nine bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition, eight inside the boat and one close to it.

The examinations and identifications began in Belém and are also ongoing in Brasília.