RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Twenty suspected Haitian migrants have been found dead in a boat in northern Brazil, their bodies in an advanced state of decomposition and showing signs of dehydration and hunger, police said Saturday.

Fishermen alerted the authorities after finding the boat near the town of Braganca, which sits on Brazil’s northern coast in the state of Para, a federal police spokesman told AFP.

“According to civil police and forensics experts, there were 20 bodies. The federal police chief for Braganca, Alexandre Calvinho, said they were believed to be Haitian refugees,” police said in a statement.

“However, further investigation is needed to confirm the cause of death and the victims’ identities.”

Forensics experts will also have to confirm the exact number of victims, it said.

Emergency workers are towing the boat to a village called Vila Tamatateua where investigators plan to remove the bodies.

The victims “are believed to have died of hunger and dehydration, but further analysis is required. The investigation is ongoing,” police said.

The federal prosecutors’ office said in a statement it had opened both criminal and civil investigations on the case.

– Haitian exodus –
Local media reports said fishermen found the small boat early Saturday at a remote Atlantic Ocean beach between the towns of Braganca and Quatipuru.

The site is around 3,500 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Haiti.

News site G1 posted a video attributed to one of the fishermen that showed a wooden boat with faded blue paint floating in shallow water.

“That’s a lot of dead bodies,” a man can be heard saying in the video.

Haiti is in the grips of a deepening humanitarian and security crisis.

Since the end of February, powerful gangs have teamed up to launch a coordinated offensive across the Caribbean nation, attacking police stations, prisons and the airport, leading to the resignation of prime minister Ariel Henry.

The United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said this month the situation is driving an exodus from the country.

It said Haiti has more than 360,000 internally displaced people, including “many multiple times over”.

Some 13,000 Haitian migrants were forcibly returned home by neighboring countries in March, said the IOM.

“For most Haitians, the prospect of regular migration remains an insurmountable hurdle, leaving irregular migration as their only semblance of hope,” it said.

Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, has become a frequent destination for Haitian migrants in recent years.

The UN refugee agency estimated last year there were around 161,000 Haitians living in Brazil.