TWO of the Brazilians whose decomposing bodies were found over the weekend, had to be hurriedly buried at Bartica yesterday, following autopsies performed by government pathologist Dr. Neehaul Singh.

Those buried were Joao Veloso do Nascimento and Aidlene Fernandes dos Santos, a couple found tied up at Sand Hills over the weekend. At the time of the autopsies, their bodies were in such an advanced state of decomposition, a decision was taken to dispose of them before the day was out.
But there was a snag, according to Georgetown-based Secretary of the Brazilian Mining and General Association, Antonio Szalo. Szalo said his organisation had to hurriedly intervene, after they received word that someone at the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) at Bartica had indicated that the Brazilians would have to pay about $165,000 each for space to be buried in the Bartica burial ground. That figure was ludicrous, said Szalo, since all they were asking was space in the earth, and not even a tomb.
The other two on whose bodies post-mortems were performed, Antonio Da Silva and another man whose name was given only as ‘Branco’, were expected to be transported to Georgetown yesterday to be embalmed at the Lyken Funeral Home and additionally prepared to be flown back home to Brazil where they would be given decent burials.
Antonio Da Silva, a businessman who owned a shop at Aramu, Cuyuni River, was shot and killed on the premises. At the time Silva was attacked, he was with a friend, and after the gun-man opened fire, the friend fled and contacted the Brazilian Mining Association in Georgetown by phone.
Meanwhile, the fourth person, ‘Branco’, was allegedly shot and killed when gunmen opened fire on him as he was travelling in a boat with other Brazilians and Guyanese miners. The other occupants of the boat were said to have escaped unhurt.