A Canadian man has been found dead with stab wounds aboard his catamaran drifting off the coast of Belize, authorities have said.
The body of Thomas David Harmon, a 72-year-old from British Columbia, was discovered on the vessel on Wednesday. The boat had been floating approximately 60 miles from Belize’s shoreline.
A woman was rescued from the same catamaran on Monday by the cruise ship MSC Divina, according to Francis Usher of Belize’s Ministry of National Defence and Border Security. She was in a state of distress, but Harmon’s body was left on the boat. The woman’s whereabouts remain unknown.
The Belize Coast Guard later towed the boat, named the Melinda, to the island of Caye Caulker after a delay caused by jurisdictional issues. It has since been moved to Belize City for investigation.
Harmon’s son said his father set sail from Livingston, Guatemala, nearly 250 miles away, last week. Authorities are treating the boat as a crime scene and awaiting the results of a post-mortem to determine the exact cause of death.
