Shark Consumes Drowning Victim

FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Police and a search and rescue team from the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association (BASRA) continued their search for bodies near West End on Monday after discovering four partially decomposed bodies in that area on Sunday evening.

According to Chief Superintendent of Police Basil Rahming, officials were acting on a tip when they went to an area that was about 13 1/2 miles off West End in the vicinity of Sandy Cay on Sunday night and discovered a 27-foot white and red speedboat with a black hull.

He said the boat had capsized and was floating in the ocean.

The bodies of two black males and one black female, all fully clad, were also floating nearby, according to authorities.

BASRA and police divers retrieved the bodies from the water. Police have reported that a fourth body was also seen floating but it was consumed by sharks.

Devaughn Archer, a BASRA official, confirmed late Monday afternoon that although no more bodies had been found, the police found information to identify the owner of the vessel.

"The captain and the police have just arrived back in Old Bahama Bay and they were able to salvage miscellaneous things off the vessel that could help identify who the boat may belong to," Mr. Archer said. "We were also able to get the hull number that identifies who the hull belongs to and it turned out that it belongs to someone from Freeport.

"So C.I.D. is doing their investigations further to see if they can get in contact with the people or the persons involved with the ownership of this vessel."

Mr. Archer explained what happened when the search team tried to retrieve the bodies from the water on Sunday.

"We were able to bring back the three out of the four bodies. The shark literally took the body right out of the C.I.D. diver’s hand. They had to leave the water and come out and sit on the boat for a while to wait for it to leave," he said.

Mr. Archer said there were indications that the victims were being smuggled when their vessel overturned in rough seas.

"The vessel had no registration numbers, no registration on it," he said. "No one admits seeing this vessel. We have made contact with different islands nearby to see if anybody was aware of this vessel, has ever seen it or knows who it belongs to. So far nobody knows anything about this vessel. It’s as if it came out of nowhere.

"We are still looking for more information as to who this boat belongs to and where it was going. We don’t know where it came from and what was going on."

He said the deceased victims are believed to be Haitian nationals, but that had yet to be confirmed.

Haitian Ambassador Louis Harold Joseph told The Journal that he had not received any information from the police or immigration indicating that the victims were Haitians.

Immigration officials also told The Journal that they were awaiting a call from the police regarding this matter, but up to press time had not received any information.

Police reported that due to the large number of sharks seen in the area and blood in the water, they believe that more people were aboard the ill-fated vessel when it overturned, but were consumed by the sharks before officials arrived on the scene.

"We do believe that there are more bodies out there because if it was smuggling, it doesn’t make sense to have four bodies," Mr. Archer said. "It’s going to be more than that."

He said the bodies were still identifiable but were not in the best condition as they were partially decomposed.

"The vessel was accidentally found by Coast Guard [Sunday] while searching for another person in the water [who] is believed to have fallen off this sailboat and the Coast Guard accidentally found the overturned boat with the four bodies on it," Mr. Archer said.

He said another search and rescue crew was dispatched to the area to continue the search.

The BASRA vessel with police officers aboard arrived at the Old Bahama Bay marina around 9:45pm Sunday with the three bodies, which were transported by local morticians to the Rand Memorial Hospital where they were officially pronounced dead then placed in the morgue.

Police reported that an autopsy will be performed on the remains to determine the exact cause of death.

"As for the boat itself it is just an empty fiber glass hull right now and it is still out on the scene. They tried to turn it over but because of the damage of the boat, they were unsuccessful, so they will have to go back out with more material and heavy equipment," said Mr. Archer, adding that BASRA had completed its role in this investigation.

"Everything is now in the police’s hands and they will inform you as to the nationalities and whether the owner is alive or onboard or whatever the case may be."