SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The Brazilian federal prosecutors office and Para state’s federal police said in statements on Saturday that they will open investigations following reports of a boat found with decomposed bodies off the coast of the northern Brazilian state.
Federal police say experts and forensic teams have been deployed to the remote area.
“One of the main objectives is to find out who the people on the boat were, using Disaster Victim Identification protocols”, the statement said.
The number, nationality and cause of death of the victims is not yet known, federal police confirmed.
Brazilian federal prosecutors office said that some local Para news reports claim there could be up to 20 bodies on the boat and that they were Haitian migrants. Reuters has been unable to independently verify this information.
The boat was found by fishermen in an area known as Barra do Quatipuru, near Ajuruteua beach in Braganca, in the north-east of the state.
Videos have been circulating on social media which allegedly show the fishermen making the discovery of the adrift boat.
Local police and government did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
(Reporting by Steven Grattan; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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