Dead migrants drift to Amazon
The bodies of nine migrants found on an African boat off the northern coast of Brazil’s Amazon region were buried Thursday with a solemn ceremony in the Para state capital of Belem.
Fishermen off the coast of Para found the boat adrift on April 13, carrying the bodies that were already decomposing. Brazilian officials later said documents found in the vessel indicated the victims were migrants from Mali and Mauritania, and that the boat had departed the latter country after Jan. 17.
The deceased were buried in a secular ceremony organized by several groups involved in their recovery, such as the UN Refugee Agency, the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration, as well as Brazilian police, navy and civil defence agencies.
A tropical rain fell as their coffins were lowered into graves dug into the earth and those present watched in respectful silence.
Their roughly 12-metre boat 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.
It was a rustic blue-and-white fibreglass boat that, when found, had neither motor, tiller nor rudder. Its canoe shape is similar to Mauritanian fishing boats often used by migrants fleeing West Africa and aiming to enter the European Union via Spain’s Canary Islands.
An Associated Press investigation published last year revealed that in 2021 at least seven boats from northwest Africa were found in the Caribbean and Brazil. All carried dead bodies, like the vessel found in Para.
So far, none of the victims have been identified. Authorities said the manner of their burial would allow for subsequent exhumations in case families of the deceased were located and wished to transfer the bodies back to their home countries.
Brazil’s criminology institute in the capital Brasilia is carrying out forensic examinations of the remains.
This year, the number of people attempting the crossing from the northwest coast of Africa to the EU has seen a 500-per-cent spike, with most departing from Mauritania, according to Spain’s interior ministry.
But it is a dangerous route, with strong Atlantic winds, and boats that go off course can be swept away to distant destinations, often leading migrants to die of dehydration and malnutrition.
With hundreds more West African migrants reported missing, families in Mauritania have set up a commission to search for loved ones, and are anxiously awaiting information from Brazil.