A boat that authorities believe contained 11 dead people from the African nation of Mali was found Monday on a Caribbean island.
The Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force said the bodies in the boat that washed up on the island of Canouan were in an advanced state of decomposition, according to Fox News.
Some remains were not fully intact, police said.
Although passports suggested that the individuals on board came from the landlocked West African country of Mali, police have not made any official identification.
The wooden boat and 11 bodies that washed ashore in Little Bay, Cherry Hill, on the island of Canouan last Monday, May 26, 2025, may have originated from the Republic of Mali, in West Africa.
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— Searchlight SVG (@SearchlightSVG) May 30, 2025
“This incident is deeply concerning, and we understand the public’s interest in the matter,” police said.
“We assure you that the RSVGPF is treating this investigation with the utmost seriousness and sensitivity.”
The 45-foot-long boat apparently drifted onto the eastern shore of the island, police said.
The discovery comes several months after a January incident in St. Kitts and Nevis, where the bodies of 19 people were found, according to Reuters.
At the time the bodies were found, police said they believed those in the boat had been at sea for a long time due to the advanced level of decomposition.
Police believe those on board also came from Mali.
Some really grim news from St. Kitts and Nevis where about 19 decomposing bodies were found in a boat drifting off Nevis. pic.twitter.com/sBScV7fnW8
— Nelcia Charlemagne (@nelciathewriter) January 30, 2025
Eujin Byun, a representative of the UN Refugee Agency, said it was “highly unlikely” the migrants found on Canouan on Monday were aiming for the Caribbean, according to the BBC.
“We cannot talk on behalf of those who have passed away, but our best guess is that they wanted to take the Atlantic route to get to the Canary Islands,” Byun said, referencing an island group located off the northwestern coast of Africa.
Ongoing political violence and ethnic conflicts have displaced hundreds of thousands in Mali. Although the situation in the Faladié camp in the capital Bamako is precarious, returning to their home villages remains unthinkable for many refugees.https://t.co/cSX6yD2rFH
— NZZ Geopolitics (@NZZReporting) May 18, 2025
Mali has experienced “a cycle of violence” since 2012, Byun said, leading to many refugees fleeing the country.
“Desperate people make desperate decisions,” she said.
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