BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE bodies of four women, three men and a child were discovered washed up on the beach in West Grand Bahama in what is being called ‘an horrific’ human smuggling tragedy.

The victims are believed to have drowned at sea.

Police were initially alerted around 8am yesterday about a body on the beach in Holmes Rock.

While conducting a further search several more bodies were discovered scattered in the area.

Assistant Commissioner Hulan Hanna said further checks were conducted along the shoreline and at sea to ensure that there were no other bodies.

He said last night police could not yet confirm the nationalities of the victims.

“I see that there is a mixture, some of them are black and others seem to be of a lighter hue, a mulatto colour,” he said.

Several hearses were called in around noon to remove the bodies from the scene near the Holmes Rock Cemetery.

Crime scene officersd were among the police at the scene until after 1pm conducting investigations.

A US Coast Guard helicopter also helped with the search.

It is believed a capsized boat may have been located in waters off Holmes Rock. Divers were sent out to check the vessel.

Residents from the Holmes Rock community and onlookers were kept a safe distance from the scene as police cordoned off all access points to the beach.

Vernae Grant, former Eight Mile Rock MP, was also there and said residents had been saddened by the discovery, especially as a child was involved.

“It is so tragic to have so many lives lost in a single incident,” she said.

“We are so very fortunate in this country, because here we have (other) people risking their lives in such a way.

“These people were looking for freedom, and unfortunately it ended here today like this, it is an horrific tragedy,” Mrs Grant said it appeared the individuals may have been victims of a human smuggling operation gone wrong.

“We don’t know what happened, we don’t know if the boat capsized or if those individuals may have been tossed overboard.

“That is the worse part, to have people lose their lives in the process of trying to be free. I am not proud of having it happen right here in our neighbourhood,” she added.

ACP Hanna said illegally transporting persons outside the Bahamas is a crime.

He added: “I wish to make an appeal to the wider community that it is a criminal offence if a person goes and puts himself in the public light seeking to transport people outside of the Bahamas, wherever they want to go.

“It is also a criminal offence for persons going out seeking these persons to ferry them to other jurisdictions.”

Mr Hanna is appealing to the public to contact the police if they know of anyone, particularly in the Holmes Rock area, who maybe missing.

He said the identity of the victims was not known and autopsies would need to be performed to determine the cause of death.

“We don’t know the nationalities of the victims definitively, but again, the enormity of what we met here cannot be emphasised enough, and that is that the risk that people take is crazy.

“Please for God’s sake listen to us and do not do it because you put your life at risk, and the greater tragedy is the fact there is a little child who has no more chance in life because somebody took a decision to have the child accompany them to this ill-fated journey,” said Mr Hanna.