Autopsies on Belle Garden bodies inconclusive

Police sources have said the results of the autopsies on the bodies found in a boat off Belle Garden, Tobago, last week Friday, are inconclusive.

Forensic pathologist Dr Eslyn Mc Donald-Burris did the post-mortems on Tuesday at Scarborough General Hospital.

Sources told Newsday that owing to their advanced state of decomposition, samples had to be taken from the bodies for a toxicology assessment.

Fishermen Jason Broomes, Doyle Cornwall and Lance Biggart saw the boat drifting about four miles off Belle Garden, on Tobago’s Windward side, shortly after 7 am on May 28.

The men later found 14 decomposing bodies in the vessel, which they towed to the shore. A skull and other skeletal remains were also found on the boat.

Head of the police Tobago Division ACP William Nurse told a news conference on Tuesday the boat came from an African country, Mauritania.

Nurse said the boat was believed to have been stolen and an investigation is underway in Mauritania.