By KARL E. CUPID Wednesday, September 30 2009

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DEAD: A white sheet covers the body of an unidentified man which was found in the sea off Buccoo in Tobago yesterday. ...

THE bloated, decomposing body of a middle-aged man of African descent was found floating in the sea off Buccoo on Tobago’s south-west coast yesterday. The body was spotted floating face down by a fisherman two miles off the Buccoo Reef at about midday.

The fisherman alerted the authorities and the body was later towed ashore by Coast Guard personnel aboard a patrol boat, in the presence of police officers. District Medical Officer Dr Mentor Melville, who viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Scarborough Hospital mortuary, estimated that the man may have been in the water for at least three days judging from the state of decomposition. He said a forensic autopsy would have to be carried out to determine the cause of death.