成人快手

At the end of May this year, the assistant commissioner of Tobago's police force, William Nurse, was called to a beach where an horrific scene awaited him.

A boat had been found containing the bodies of 15 people who had died - floating lost in the Atlantic Ocean - about two months before. Documents and phones found on the boat showed that they had come from Mauritania - it's believed they were trying to make their way from the African country to the Canary Islands in order to get to Europe, but were blown off course.

There have been a number of such incidents in recent months, but many more boats will sink and never be found.

Now the authorities of Tobago have approached their counterparts in Mauritania with fingerprints taken from some of the bodies to try to identify at least some of the dead - and to give them all a proper funeral.

William Nurse said it was one of the most painful and horrendous incidents of his 38 year career.

"I asked myself... what were they trying to escape from? Where were they trying to go? What was their life before they left their country of origin?... The boat was a large boat with a very small Yamaha engine and very little fuel, so there was no way they could have made that journey based on where they started to where they wanted to go."

A warning, listeners may find this testimony upsetting.

(Photo: The migrant boat, containing 15 bodies, found floating off Tobago. Credit: Trinidad and Tobago Police Service)

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