The Venezuelan government said Sunday it had found 14 bodies after a ship carrying migrants bound for Trinidad and Tobago was wrecked en route.
The government said in a statement that 11 bodies were found by a Coast Guard patrol on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, following up on the events that occurred, “we found three dead, two adult males and one female, on the beach.”
The TT Coast Guard had said Saturday that Venezuelan authorities informed them that “11 bodies had been recovered that day in waters near the Venezuelan coastal town of Guiria,” in the northeastern state of Sucre.
Preliminary information suggested that the boat left on December 6 with more than 20 people on board.
Venezuelan opposition deputy Robert Alcala, who represents Sucre state, said that migrant departures to Trinidad often used precarious boats loaded with too much weight.
The deputy said the boat was “allegedly detained in Trinidad and was returned to Venezuela,” as part of the island nation’s response to the arrival of Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic crisis.
Citing a police report, he said that the bodies were tied together supposedly to protect themselves from heavy waves and were in an advanced state of decomposition.
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