Boat adrift in PA: two weeks after bodies were found, victims remain unidentified | For

The Federal Police reported that it is unlikely that the bodies found in the boat adrift off the coast of Pará will be repatriated due to the costs involved. This Saturday (27), the case completes two weeks and the victims remain unidentified.

Investigations indicate that the boat left Mauritania in January this year heading to the Canary Islands, on a migratory route from Africa to Europe. The suspicion is that the vessel drifted and ended up on the coast of Pará.

• The bodies were found by fishermen in the city of Bragança, in the northeast of Pará. When they discovered that there were bodies, they informed the authorities.
• The vessel, approximately 15 meters long and 2 meters wide, was in Maiaú Bay, close to the island of Canelas.
• Federal Police opened an investigation to determine the nationality of the victims and the circumstances of their death.
• Federal Public Ministry (MPF) opened two investigations into the case, one in the criminal area and the other civil.
• Two PF agents were at the scene to assess the boat and saw the bodies piled up in a state of decomposition.
• A team of experts and papilloscopists from Brasília was called to come to Pará and analyze the case.

• Federal, state and municipal authorities participated in the rescue of the boat found adrift with bodies;
• The teams assessed that the best option was to tow the vessel to Porto in the ‘Vila do Castelo’ community, in the city of Bragança.
• The area had many sandbanks and it was only possible to get there at high tide.
• The towing of the vessel from the sea to dry land was accompanied by an aircraft during the day. The boat only reached dry land for the start of the investigation at night.

• At around 1 am, the agents began trying to lift the boat with the help of a backhoe, to remove it from the port bank and place it on a truck.
• The boat was placed on a flatbed truck and transported to the IML, in Bragança. Transport took about three hours.
• At the IML, necropsy work and cadaveric examinations were carried out, both by the Federal Police and the State Scientific Police.

• The PF reported that nine bodies were found. Of the total, eight were inside the vessel and one was close to it, in circumstances that suggest that he was part of the same group of victims.
• Documents and objects found next to the bodies indicate that the victims were migrants from the African continent, the region of Mauritania and Mali.
• To establish the identity of the bodies, Interpol Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) protocols were adopted.
• According to the Brazilian Navy, the boat was made from fiberglass and is without engines or any propulsion and steering systems.
• A refrigerated truck transported the bodies from Bragança to the Legal Medical Institute (IML) in Belém.

Refrigerated truck arrives in Belém with bodies found in boat on the coast of Bragança, PA

• The vessel left the IML in Bragança at 9am, on top of a truck, and arrived at 2pm at the Naval Base in the capital of Pará. The trip took about five hours.
• The Brazilian Navy reported that the boat would undergo forensic examination to look for evidence that could clarify the causes of the accident.
• There are suspicions that at least 25 people were on the boat, which may have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, from Africa to Brazil, without an engine or rudder.

• According to the PF, experts found 27 cell phones on the boat. The devices were sent for expert examinations at the National Institute of Criminalistics in Brasília (DF).
• Federal agents and the Scientific Police of Pará carried out examinations of the eight bodies removed from the boat and the ninth, found nearby.
• The PF stated that the nine bodies will be temporarily buried in Belém, until the identities are identified and the families of the victims are notified.
• April 19th
• The vessel found with bodies on the coast of Pará had space for a small engine, according to the captain of Portos da Amazônia Oriental, Ewerton Calfa.
• The forensic investigation showed that the boat was built by hand, found without an engine, rudder or steering system.

• The PF said that forensic work to try to decipher the identity of the victims is still ongoing and, for now, has not brought decisive results.
• The reports will be forwarded to Interpol, which will request help from African countries to try to discover the identities of the victims.
• The 27 cell phones found on the vessel are damaged. The devices were wet for a long time and the chances of extracting information are small, according to sources who follow the case.
• In addition to the nine victims, the investigation believes that the boat had a maximum capacity of holding between 30 and 40 people.

• The bodies were buried in the São Jorge cemetery, during a ceremony attended by agents who participated in the investigations and forensics.
• According to the direction of the PF’s National Institute of Criminalistics, the nine bodies found were of men and adults.
• Experts managed to collect seven of the nine fingerprints.
• The work of federal experts continues in Brasília, to try to decipher the identity of the victims and, consequently, their possible relatives.

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