Five migrants eat dead comrade to stay alive
Five migrants rescued after 15 days lost at sea were forced to resort to eating their dead comrades to stay alive, a Dominican official has said.
The group was found floating near the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. One of the five – the only woman in the group – has since died in hospital.
Dominican minister of tourism Francisco Javier Garcia said the remaining four, part of a large group of migrants, told him that without food, they ate from the corpse of the last person to die.
A total of 33 Dominican migrants were trying to reach Puerto Rico by boat when they were reported missing by relatives in mid-October. Survivors said they lost their way after the captain abandoned the ship.
Bodies of the other dead were thrown into the sea, but the group kept the body of the most-recently deceased for food, Mr Garcia said. “The other four are dehydrated and have swollen legs but are expected to recover.”
It is not known if the men will face charges.