Girl found dead at sea

By Pai Mulitalo Ale 19 August 2016, 12:00AM

The dead body of a young girl was discovered by five fishermen from Utuali’i floating in the open sea on Wednesday.

Suspected to be between 16 and 18 years of age, her identity remains unknown.

Yesterday, Sam Taufao, 25, from Utuali’i told the Samoa Observer the girl was already dead when they found her.

 “We were out fishing and we saw something floating on the sea,” said Taufao. 

“When got closer, we discovered it was a body of a young girl already dead.”

Taufao said when they found the body, they were scared.

 “I have been fishing for more than ten years but this is the first time I have discovered something like this at sea,” he said.

Taufao and his three brothers were accompanied by their uncle on Wednesday evening when they found the body. 

“It was lucky we went with my uncle because we would never put her on the boat. Instead, we would have tied her leg to a rope and towed her back to the shore.

“But my uncle insisted we carry her on the boat because we found her close to the reef and it was far from shore.” 

Taufao said he continues to have nightmares about seeing the dead body.

“On our way back, her nose started bleeding and it was smelly as well,” he said. 

“I couldn’t sleep last night and I couldn’t get her face off my mind. The smell remains in my nostrils.

 “She must have died the night before we found her.” 

When the body was brought to shore, police was contacted right away. 

“I heard one of the officers taking her photo saying that she is the one who took off in a boat from Matautu,” said Taufao. 

Taufao said he didn’t understand what he meant but from what he found our later, a girl had taken off on a boat from the Matautu wharf earlier on Wednesday.

It was not possible to get a comment from the Ministry of Police yesterday.

In the meantime, the woman’s body is now at the morgue and the Police are investigating.

By Pai Mulitalo Ale 19 August 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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