Police in Trinidad and Tobago discovered the remains of at least 50 babies and six adults at a cemetery in Cumuto on Saturday. The site is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the capital, Port of Spain, on the island of Trinidad.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) said the case “may be a case involving the unlawful disposal of unclaimed corpses.” Of the six adult bodies, four were male and two female. Five of the adult corpses had toe tags like those used in morgues, and two—one male and one female—showed signs that autopsies had been performed. Police said no identifications have been announced and that further forensic analysis is under way to determine the origin of the remains and whether any laws or procedures were breached.
Allister Guevarro called the discovery “deeply troubling” and said, “Every cadaver must be handled with dignity and lawful care. Any individual or institution found to have violated that duty will be held fully accountable.” Police said the investigation is active and will be handled with “urgency, sensitivity and unwavering commitment to uncovering the truth.”
Trinidad and Tobago, an English-speaking Caribbean nation of about 1.5 million people made up of two islands off Venezuela’s coast, has seen a rise in gang violence in recent years. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s government last month extended a state of emergency first imposed in December 2024. The country recorded 623 murders in 2024, and the US State Department ranked it among the world’s most dangerous in 2023 with a murder rate of 37 per 100,000.
Edited by: Alex Berry