At least nine bodies of African migrants were discovered on a boat off Brazil’s northern coast and buried during a secular funeral in Belem on Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, the event was organised by groups engaged in the corpses’ discovery, including the United Nations Refugee Agency, Red Cross, and International Organization for Migration, as well as Brazilian police, naval, and civil defence agencies.
Authorities in Brazil indicated that the burial method would allow for further exhumations if the deceased’s families were found and wanted to return the bodies to their home countries.
The deceased are suspected to have come from Mauritania and Malia and were found by Brazilian fishermen, on April 13, on a boat adrift.
The roughly 12-metre vessel was carrying 25 raincoats and 27 mobile phones, suggesting the original number of passengers was significantly higher.
This also implies that people of other nationalities may have been among the deceased, local officials have said.
Brazilian officials believe the boat had departed Mauritania after Jan. 17. Its passengers most likely aimed to enter Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands.
Associated Press also stated that Brazil’s criminology institute in the capital Brasilia is carrying out forensic examinations of the remains, and the Federal Police say they are in contact with Interpol and foreign organizations to provide eventual results.
