Five men whose shackled bodies washed up on holiday island died at sea after being forced to drink salt water and urine
As suspected, the
Europe
.
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The men were packed into a boat trying to cross the Med to get to Europe
Credit: D.I.
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They wave orange signs in an attempt to attract the attention of a passing boat
Credit: D.I.
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The engine on the overloaded boat bust after two days at sea
Credit: D.I.
There was shock and horror when the five corpses were discovered in the ocean off the Balearics - and it was initially thought they had been murdered while crossing and dumped into the sea.
But their families have now revealed they were bound because of a death ritual after they died of starvation on the two week hazardous journey.
And they confirmed that they were so hungry and thirsty that they had to resort to drinking their own urine and fatally, sea water.
They also ate just one date a day.
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Dramatic pictures and a shocking video have been published by Spanish newspaper Diario de Ibiza showing the
At one stage, their distress is evident as they wave orange sticks to try and attract passing boats.
Their tiny boat had left Algeria and was adrift for two weeks as the engine had broke down during the second day of the crossing.
After receiving the survivors, who were between 15 and 27 years old (there were several minors on board), the Red Cross found that most of them had very acute symptoms of dehydration, wounds and infectious symptoms.
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During their anxiety, they fed themselves with a date a day and most ended up drinking their own urine to survive, since they consumed all the milk and fresh water they had on them.
"One of the people had eaten toothpaste because he did not have anything else and did not want to let go of the bottle when he arrived here," the Red Cross explained to the Alicante newspaper Información.
Horror in Majorca as at least five bodies with hands and feet shackled are plucked from water off Brit holiday island
All the migrants were Somalis, except for the two alleged skippers, who are Nigerian nationals.
One of them died during the crossing and the other was arrested by the National
Police
.
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He is accused of crimes of organising illegal
immigration
, reckless homicide, injuries and membership of a criminal organisation.
Doctors said those who chose to ingest seawater ended up dying.
In addition, the information provided by the Red Cross to the authorities regarding the causes of death of the body that was in the boat also eliminates any theory of a violent death.
"The fundamental cause of death is hypoglycemia. Ketoacidosis. Metabolic syndrome," says the communication.
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Hypoglycemia occurs when glucose levels, the body's main source of
energy
in the blood, fall below what is healthy for the body.
On May 18, ten days after the boat was rescued near Alicante, a handcuffed body arrived on the coast of Formentera.
Over the
next
few weeks, the trickle of corpses continued to total five.
They were all wearing an orange vest and were tied hand-and-foot.
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The brother of one of the survivors of the crossing said that in Islamic tradition, it is customary in Somalia to wrap the body, tie their legs and bend their hands so that they hold each other.
The migrants did not have the means to wrap the bodies but they were able to perform these ties, like funeral rites, before throwing the bodies overboard.
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