BASSETERRE, Jan 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coastguard of St Kitts and Nevis has discovered 13 decomposing bodies in a boat adrift off the coast, days after another five bodies were found in a skiff near Trinidad and Tobago.
Officials of the two Caribbean countries said it was not immediately clear if there was any link between the two incidents, or who the deceased were.
Cromwell Henry, deputy commissioner of St Kitts and Nevis police, said the 13 bodies found on Wednesday were in an advanced state of decomposition. He could not give the victims’ age or gender.
The captainless boat was towed to shore and an investigation opened.
On Saturday, a similar callout led to the discovery of a skiff with five dead people onboard off Trinidad and Tobago, about 1,200km away.
That vessel was in a poor state and sank while being towed to the island, officials said.
A Trinidadian coast guard statement noted a “striking resemblance” between the vessel found on Saturday and another discovered nearby in 2021 which contained the remains of 15 people.
It was speculated that that boat had drifted from the African coast with migrants on board. — NNN-AGENCIES
