PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos — A boat used to be found drifting about a mile off Grand Turk island with 20 dead people on board, including two young people, authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands mentioned Sunday.
Officials mentioned investigators had ruled out substandard play but have been composed trying to determine what came about. The identities and origin of the dead have been also below investigation.
Fishermen spotted the little boat Thursday morning and alerted the marine division of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who towed the vessel ashore.
The police communications officer, Takara Bain, mentioned in a news liberate that investigators had discounted substandard play and have been looking at diversified possibilities, without giving any specifics.
Police Commissioner Trevor Botting mentioned the boat gave the impression to have come from outdoors the Caribbean and authorities failed to think it had the Turks and Caicos as its destination.
“My investigators are working to put their identities and how they met their dying,” Botting mentioned.
The Turks and Caicos are on the total a magnet for determined Haitians seeking to cruise that poverty-bothered nation and the territory also has been old-fashioned as a transshipment point by human traffickers.
In June 2020, Sri Lanka-born Canadian citizen Srikajamukam Chelliah pleaded guilty to human trafficking prices sooner than a Turks and Caicos consume and used to be sentenced to 14 months in prison. He used to be extradited to Florida and sentenced Feb. 24 to 32 months in prison for conspiring to smuggle people into the United States.
Chelliah had been caught in August 2019 skippering a boat carrying 158 people, including 28 Sri Lankans. They informed investigators they have been certain for the United States.
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20 people found dead on boat drifting in Turks and Caicos
