Post mortem says death caused by blunt trauma
But as family members cling to the hope that the other six men are still alive, the results of the post mortem conducted on the body of Magistrate Richard Swift has brought little comfort. According to forensic pathologist Dr. Mario Estradabran, the deceased as identified as Swift through dental records, a scar on his foot and his wedding ring. But as for the cause of death, Estradabran could only tell the media that two broken ribs on the right side of the chest severely affected Swift’s liver and killed him within minutes. But as for who or what inflicted the injuries, the doctor’s guess is as good as yours.
Dr. Mario Estradabran, Forensic Expert
“It is my opinion that the direct cause of death was internal haemorrhage, okay; internal haemorrhage due to liver injuries as a direct consequence of chest and abdominal trauma, blunt instrument type. It is to the–especially when a blunt instrument cause directly the injuries, we just have to say in this particular case that the death is a violent death, okay. But that does not mean that a murder took place. That’s why the investigation is still open, it’s still ongoing, okay. And also I would like to define what trauma and blunt instrument is related with. Blunt is an object, it is an artefact that could be anything except a weapon that has been discharged, by a firearm or a weapon that has point and edges. So any other type of instrument beside that, we call it blunt instruments. When the bodies or the victims get in contact with sea waters, the decomposition takes longer to appear or to settle down because as you all know the sodium chloride or the salty waters it is a natural preservation of the tissues.”
Commandant Cedric Borland, Belize National Coast Guard
“We will continue to maintain a presence. We expect that, today we have vessels out there continuing the search in the Turneffe area, in the Glovers Reef area. We also have received a lot of aerial support, both from the B.D.F. and private aircrafts. Today, we had a visiting U.S. defence team from Honduras and they assisted us as well in some aerial search well beyond the reef. They had about two and a half, three hours of flight this morning. So we continue, but as I mention we are more in the recovery stage at this time.”
Dr. Estradabran admitted that if the boat had run hard into a reef or submerged object the impact of Swift’s body against the side of the boat would also fit the description of “blunt object.”
