How and why, three crew members of the Island Princess were shot in the head and disembowelled are the questions that seem to have no answers but local police are awaiting the arrival of the vessel here to commence investigations with the hope that some clues may be found.
The Island Princess was found drifting off the coast of Grenada on Monday by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and it is currently moored at the island’s coast guard base. At the time the Island Princess disappeared it is believed that Mahendra Singh called Sunil, Ryan Chin, Rickford Bannister and Titus Buckery Nascimento made up the crew aboard. The bodies found so far at various locations in the Essequibo River have been identified as those of Singh, Chin and Nascimento.
Yesterday, a security source in the Spice Isle said that investigations into the discovery of the vessel by the Royal Grenada Police Force are continuing and nothing incriminating has been found.
The source told Stabroek News that the authorities are putting systems in place to dispose of the large quantity of diesel mixed with water that was found aboard the vessel.
When it was found it was flooded and it is suspected that that water had accumulated because the engine was off and it had been drifting for quite some time.
The source said that the only diesel on the vessel was that in the hull and that was mixed with water, he said, adding that the authorities just cannot pump it out, they have to ensure that it is disposed of properly.
He informed this newspaper that the police on the island have been in contact with their Guyanese counterparts.
As soon as ownership is verified and they have completed their investigations, which is to ascertain how it ended up in Grenadian waters, the vessel will be returned to Guyana, this newspaper was told. Guyanese police yesterday had no theories as to what may have occurred on board the vessel and according to one senior police officer; they are awaiting the arrival of the vessel here, to carry out investigations.
What exactly local police hope to find after the vessel would have been extensively processed by the Grenada forensic department is unclear. There had also been no word on the results of the DNA samples that were taken from the three bodies that were found and the relatives of the crew members.
