NORTH EAST CAYE, Wed. Nov. 11, 2020– On Tuesday, November 10, at around 2:00 p.m., Belize Coast Guard (BCG) personnel came upon and retrieved the body of a man that was seen floating at about 1 mile off North East Caye in the southern waters of Belize.
The body was floating face down, and it was already bloated and in an advanced stage of decomposition. The unidentified person was dressed in a grey shirt and brown 3/4 cargo pants.
The BCG transported the body to the Placencia municipal pier and handed it over to Dangriga CIB personnel, who took it to the Southern Regional Morgue, where it is awaiting identification.
Police say that they believe that the body is that of Francisco Domingo Tzalam, 29, a resident of Livingston, Guatemala.
Guatemalan news media are reporting that Tzalam, also known as “Chico”, went missing on November 7 when he left Livingston Cabecera gas station two days ago and disappeared.
His boat, “Cayuco,” was found abandoned on the banks of a beach by the Bay of Amatique, Guatemala. Tzalam was reportedly dressed in a grey shirt and coffee pants, the same as the body found by the Coast Guard.