After two years, body in Tobago boat named, buried

Almost two years after a boat containing 14 bodies drifted to the coast of Tobago, one of the bodies was conclusively identified as that of a Mauritanian man. He was buried last Friday.

Fishermen in Belle Garden saw the boat on May 28, 2021 and called the police and coast guard who helped tow the vessel to shore.

On board, the police found the bodies of 14 badly decomposed bodies.

They were taken to the Scarborough General Hospital, where autopsies were done in June. The cause of death was inconclusive owing to the state of the bodies. Sources said they were "little more than skeletons."

The bodies were later taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for storage in August 2021.

A probe led by ACP William Nurse of the Tobago Division revealed the boat was from Mauritania, in northwest Africa, and the bodies were likely those of migrants.

DNA testing was done on the bodies at the centre and the results compared to samples given by relatives of missing people from Mauritania.

Last Thursday one of the bodies was confirmed as that of Alassane Sow.

Sources said his body was removed from the centre last Friday and taken to a cemetery in Central, where Muslim prayers were held.

Sources said they were not told much about Sow's background, only that he was a Mauritanian. His age remains unknown. So does the cause of his death, though officials speculate he may have died from hypothermia and dehydration as a result of being lost at sea.

The remaining 13 bodies from the boat are still unidentified and remain stored at the Forensic Science Centre.