Africa-Press – Cape verde. The authorities are currently searching the adjacent areas to try to find at the location, in the Calhau area, on the island of São Vicente, more occupants of a pirogue that washed ashore with five survivors and five bodies.
The information was provided to the press on site by the commander of the Protection Services of São Vicente, Santo Antão and São Nicolau, Vitória Veríssimo, who said that in a joint effort between the National Police, military personnel from the Armed Forces and the Red Cross they intended to search the entire area, taking into account that there may have been survivors who managed to reach nearby villages.
This is because, according to the same source, the firefighters, who were called by the National Police at around 9:30 am, upon arriving at the scene they already found five bodies, plus four survivors who were taken to the hospital and, later, one more was found “ weakened person.”
“Right now, we have five people in the hospital receiving treatment and five dead bodies”, explained the commander, adding that, through documents collected by the Judiciary Police, it was possible to know some of the nationalities of the vessel’s occupants, namely Mauritania, Mali and Senegal.
But, Vitória Veríssimo asserted, there is still no certainty as to the origin of the pirogue, although the Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center had previously received information from Senegal about vessels of this type seen days earlier.
Data that, according to the same source, should be confirmed throughout the day.
The commander also stated that all the occupants of the vessel are men and “apparently young”.
As for the bodies, he added, they were transported to the mortuary, at Hospital Baptista de Sousa, for the Judiciary Police to carry out the necessary steps for recognition, and then to be released for proper burial.
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