A small boat, capsized off Coloane on February 27
Local authorities announced yesterday that they have recovered two more bodies at Hac Sa Beach, believed to be victims of last month’s shipwreck off Coloane.
A small boat, which capsized off Coloane Island on February 27 with a group of seven to eight people on board, may prove to be a new clue for the Guangdong Police, who are working to uncover a radical Uighur group attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper reported.
Based on the initial accounts of survivors, local authorities concluded that the boat was smuggling mainland Chinese nationals, who were coming to Macau to gamble.
Information provided by Macau Customs, the Judiciary Police, and the Public Security Police indicates that a woman’s body was recovered last Tuesday. A man’s body was found on Sunday. Both cases have been referred to the Judiciary Police for further investigation.
The woman, aged 58, was found with her Chinese passport, but the man was found naked and therefore without identification documents. He had sustained a chest injury. Both autopsies have yet to be completed.
The two bodies are believed to be victims of an incident involving a capsized boat off Coloane Island. According to Macau authorities, in addition to the missing people, four other illegal immigrants aboard the boat managed to swim ashore and escape.
The Ming Pao Daily reported that the capsized boat belonged to a migrant smuggling agency, which was trying to smuggle Uighurs from Xinjiang. They would then be transferred to Southeast Asian countries and would eventually join ISIS camps. However, the local authorities have found no evidence to corroborate these allegations. MDT/Lusa
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