Two days after the boat Dona Lourdes II sinking near Cotijuba Island, in Belém (PA), with a still uncertain number of people on board, the Civil Police continues to try to locate those responsible for the vessel, who have not yet come forward to provide clarification.
A police investigation was launched on the same day as the accident to try to define the causes of the sinking and establish responsibilities. In the criminal sphere, there is the possibility of the owners of the speedboat being indicted for intentional homicide, that is, when the person assumes the risk of killing. In addition, the Navy also opened an inquiry to investigate the fact.
According to a preliminary investigation, the vessel belongs to Marcos de Souza Oliveira. According to the Public Services Regulation and Control Agency (Arcon), not only had Oliveira’s company already been notified due to operational irregularities, but the Navy had already prevented him from using two other vessels (Clicia and Expresso) to transport passengers, as it was not authorized to offer this type of service.
This morning (10), search and rescue teams located another body, which was sent to the Legal Medical Institute (IML) for identification. Therefore, the total number of people killed in the shipwreck rose to 19 took place on the morning of last Thursday (8). The fatal victims are 11 women, five men and three children.
Sixty-five people traveling on the Dona Lourdes II were found alive. The last two of these survivors were rescued by riverside dwellers who found them near the city of Ponta de Pedras (PA).
State officials are still not sure how many people were aboard the speedboat when it sank. According to the Pará Public Security Secretariat (Segup), although the declared capacity was 82 people, including the crew, the uncertainty arises from the fact that the vessel operates irregularly, boarding passengers in clandestine ports.
Also according to Segup, the search for bodies and possible survivors resumed this morning. Eleven vessels and two aircraft from state security agencies and the Navy are being employed. As the Dona Lourdes II speedboat appears to be more stable on the riverbed, divers are checking for victims trapped under the boat. The general commander of the Fire Department, Colonel Hayman Souza, had already commented on this hypothesis yesterday (9).
“We continue the search for the missing. We are in the strategy of moving the vessel, not least because it is not leaning against the bottom of the river and this puts the diving operation at risk, which is very technical and depends on some characteristics of the place”, said Souza. “In this movement, other bodies can probably be found”, anticipated the colonel, guaranteeing that the work will only be finished when all the missing are found.
In a note, the Public Ministry of Pará reported that it is already adopting all appropriate measures in the criminal, civil and administrative spheres to hold responsible whoever has “contributed to this fateful episode”. For the agency, the “tragic and sad incident” aggravates “the stain of river transport” in the state, marked by other similar tragedies over the years.
