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Archive -Seychelles

Four detained over Michel Adela’s death |01 October 2014

The skipper and the three crew members of M/V NELIZ fishing vessel are being detained in connection with what the police have described as “the suspicious death” of 40-year-old Michel Robertson Adela.

The four males aged 27, 34, 40 and 41 years, were arrested late last week.

Adela, the deceased, also a crew member of the M/V NELIZ, was reported to have drowned near St Pierre, an island of the Seychelles’ Alphonse group on Monday September 22.

According to Adela’s four colleagues, they were fishing close to St Pierre when Adela decided to swim ashore to collect birds’ droppings (gwano). At some point, he encountered difficulty swimming because of strong currents.

They also reported to the police that attempts to save him were not successful but they however managed to retrieve his body later from the sea.

The Alphonse Island’s management gave them a tarpaulin to wrap Mr Adela’s body, which was then preserved with ice onboard the M/V NELIZ until the arrival of the police two days after the reported incident.

Following initial investigations and subsequent postmortem carried out on Mr Adela’s body on Friday September 26, it is believed that there could have been foul play in his death.

The postmortem result as provided by the local medical authority indicate that Adela had suffered asphyxia, head injuries (subdural and subarchnoid hemorrhage), bilateral pulmonary edema and obstruction of the trachea (tooth implant).

The four men were brought to court yesterday morning and have all been remanded until October 13.

Meanwhile, investigations into the death of Adela continue.

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