Shotgun found aboard French-flagged yacht with dead yachtsman, dog

Last Updated on Saturday, 9 January 2016, 17:10 by Denis Chabrol

A French national, who was found adrift on a yacht offshore Guyana, was shot dead but authorities were yet to conclude if he committed suicide, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud said Saturday.

He said a shotgun was found aboard the yacht, Allegro, a French-flagged vessel which was towed into Port Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, with the decomposed bodies of the man and his dog.

The vessel arrived at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard headquarters at Ruimveldt, Georgetown at about  8:15 AM Saturday, January 9, 2016.

Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department, Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum told Demerara Waves Online News that based on the passport found on the yacht named, the man has been identified as 70-year old Michel Bozier of France.

The Police Commissioner said French police were expected in Guyana on Sunday to work along with local investigators.

Crew aboard an ocean-going vessel spotted the yacht adrift late Wednesday about 200 miles offshore Guyana, a former British colony on the north-east coast of South America.

Police investigators and Port Health authorities were at the Coast Guard headquarters to conduct their probe and address environmental health matters as a result of the decomposed bodies of the yachtsman and the dog.