Udecott: No changes to Port of Spain waterfront safety

Noel Garcia, chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (Udecott), says the corporation will not implement any new safety measures or increase security at the International Waterfront on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.

His remarks come after an unidentified man’s body was pulled from the water nearby on Monday morning.

In a phone interview with Newsday on Monday, Garcia said any addition to the existing structure would pose a serious financial burden to the corporation. He said the complex has 24-hour security and if someone wants to jump into the sea there, making the wall higher would not deter them.

Garcia also wondered whether the bodies had drifted to the complex.

Two videos of the man were uploaded to Facebook on Monday. The first clip shows him drifting metres away from the waterfront's wall and another clip shows him, wearing a yellow-and-black striped polo shirt, black shorts and black shoes, lying on the ground after being pulled from the water.

In November, another unidentified man’s body was found floating in the sea near the waterfront.

His body was retrieved with the assistance of Coast Guard officers and bore no signs of violence. Onlookers told Newsday he may have been socially displaced, as he frequently slept at the waterfront.

On October 20, another, decomposing body was also pulled from the sea near the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

An offshore supply vessel discovered the body floating 1,000 metres offshore and Marine Patrol Unit officers of the Coastal Police Unit retrieved the body. The man, of African descent, could not be identified.