Body of Leonel Velasquez found at sea

Leonel Velasquez

The body of thirty-year-old mechanic Leonel Velasquez, from Paraiso Village, Corozal District, was found on Saturday. He had been reported missing at sea since last week Wednesday. Police have confirmed that the Coast Guard found the body of Velasquez between Middle Caye and Alligator Caye. A post-mortem examination found that he drowned. The Turneffe Island Resort confirmed that just after seven p.m. on Wednesday, Velasquez fell overboard the Eagle Ray watercraft past the shipping channel into open waters; on board were six other employees and the captain en route to the resort. We get more from Criminal Investigation Branch Inspector Wilfredo Ferrufino.

Insp. Wilfredo Ferrufino, C.I.B., Belize City

Insp. Wilfredo Ferrufino

“On the twenty-first, that would be Saturday, sometime around three p.m., the Coast Guard discovered a body of a male person floating somewhere around Middle and Alligator Caye. The body was retrieved, a post-mortem was conducted; it was identified to be that of Lionel Velasquez, a thirty-year-old mechanic of Paraiso Village, and a worker of Turneffe Island Resort. There were no visible injuries to him; the post-mortem concluded that he died from asphyxia due to inhalation of fluid, consistent with drowning. We have obtained several statements from persons who witnessed the incident, and all indications are from those statements is that indeed it may have been an accident. He genuinely fell over; he lost footing on the edge of the boat and I think he was tyring to grasp unto the canopy of the boat and he lost footing and gripping on that part of the vessel and he fell over.”

Velasquez leaves behind his wife Anna, a son and a daughter and a third child on the way.