Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn says the boat with roughly six decomposed bodies found by Nicaraguan authorities is not the same vessel which was spotted in Guyana’s waters last month.
“I don’t know if it passed through Guyana’s waters sometime, but it is not the same boat. It is almost similar in construction, a bit different. But it’s not the same boat,” the Home Affairs Minister told INews when contacted on the matter.
Nicaraguan authorities have found a boat with decomposed bodies drifting off the Caribbean coast. It was highly suspected that this is the same vessel which local authorities had discovered adrift in Guyana’s waters on February 15.
Nicaragua’s interior Ministry said a Republic of Guinea passport belonging to a 31-year-old man was found on one of the six bodies discovered in the boat which was adrift off the Caribbean Coast.
The passport had no Nicaraguan entry stamp in it.
They said the boat was found drifting about a mile (1 1/2 kilometers) out to sea on Monday, near Cayo Las Palomas.
The corpses were all too badly decomposed for immediate identification.
The country’s officials have said an initial examination indicates all those aboard apparently died of dehydration or heatstroke.
It also suggests that the persons might have died about a month ago.
Based on reports migrants seeking to reach the United States have been trapped at Nicaragua’s southern border with Costa Rica, because the Nicaraguan government won’t allow them to cross Nicaragua.
That led some to choose more dangerous water routes.
On February 15, Guyana’s Maritime Administration had received information that a small boat, with supposedly lifeless bodies onboard was drifting at sea, approximately 112 nautical miles from Georgetown.
Following the discovery, several efforts were being made to bring the boat to shore, however those were unsuccessful.
The boat eventually disappeared, causing local authorities to alert international partners to be on the lookout for the vessel.
