Authorities suspect the boat may have drifted due to the current. They also discovered drugs, phones and backpacks.
Fourteen skeletons Senegalese and Mauritanian migrants were found on a boat off the northern coast of Dominican RepublicThey also discovered twelve packages of suspected drugs, telephones and backpacks.
The authorities were alerted to the vessel by local fishermen who found it. In a statement, the Navy Dominican He reported: “After locating a vessel of unknown origin and manufacture on the coast of Río San Juan (north), 14 skeletons with identities of Senegalese and Mauritanian origin were found on board.”
Mystery in the Dominican Republic: the suspicions of the authorities
According to local press, inside were also found phones, backpacks and 12 packages of a substance that authorities believe to be “cocaine or heroin”They also said that authorities suspect that the boat may have drifted due to the current.
Dominican Republic (2).jpg
Meanwhile, the Navy reported that it “will continue with the investigation of this discovery in collaboration with the Public Ministry to determine the causes and origin of this maritime tragedy of foreign origin“. For its part, the seized substance was delivered to the National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD) to carry out the corresponding procedures.
At the moment, the bodies have not been removed from the site as they must first be fumigated to avoid health risks. They will then be transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) for identification.
The cause of death of these people is unknown, but an investigation is underway into the circumstances.
The dangerous route that separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico
In the month of July, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported the death of four people as they clandestinely made their way to Puerto Rico.
The last friday, 90 migrants were repatriated to the Dominican Republic by US Coast Guard after their ships were intercepted in the Mona Channelnear Puerto Rico.
According to the commander Matthew Romanoresponse chief of the San Juan Sector, “these trips They continually threaten the lives of migrants “travelling in makeshift vessels that are not seaworthy and are extremely overloaded to transit the Mona Passage.”
Source: Ambito
