Two policemen from Suriname visited Guyana yesterday to view the two bodies which washed up on the Corentyne shore one week ago while persons from Tobago also arrived in Berbice last evening to determine if the men are their missing relatives.
The bodies which are in an advanced stage of decomposition due to the constant blackouts on the Corentyne are being kept at the Port Mourant Hospital mortuary.
The persons from Tobago are hoping to identify the bodies through dental records sometime today and had made a request for a dentist to be at hand.
Police sources told this newspaper that even if the persons had not arrived they are “going ahead with post-mortem on Monday” because they can no longer keep the bodies.
Meantime, the lawmen from Suriname told Stabroek News yesterday that they have not received any reports of missing persons. But they took photographs of the bodies and are hoping to circulate them to all the police stations in their country and neighbouring French Guiana in case someone should come forward. They are working on the theory that the men may be fishermen.
A resident of the West Coast of Demerara who read the article about the bound bodies when it was first published in the last Sunday Stabroek informed the persons in Tobago.
A man then contacted local police saying that the bodies may be those of his two brothers who were reportedly missing since July.
The man said his brothers, ages 39 and 49 and whose names are Edgar and Vinton Frank left Grenada on their cabin cruiser Reel Lucky, in July and have not been heard from since.
This newspaper understands that the persons from Tobago are of African descent.
Police had stated that the men may be Caucasians but had left all options open.
The bodies of the men were found on the Corentyne with their hands and feet bound with pieces of rope.
Persons who made the gruesome discovery had told this newspaper the men were without footwear and were clad in shorts/three-quarter pants and t-shirts. A fisherman had said that he bumped into one of the bodies last Saturday morning at Manchester as he was going to check his seine.
The man’s hands and feet were tied together in front in with a red rope; almost in a crouching position and his body was braced face-down on a mangrove tree. Police sources told this newspaper they had a hard time removing the body which was stuck between the tree and pieces of logs.
The other body was discovered last Thursday afternoon by a gardener on the shores in the vicinity of a fish pond at Whim. The hands and feet were bound with yellow rope from the back. The police were informed of the discovery and they later removed the bodies. (Shabna Ullah)
