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Body found at Bird Island
A firefighter wades in the water on his way to an outer cove at Bird Island where a decomposing body was found by two hikers yesterday afternoon. Police are still investigating the case. (DEREK GERSONDE)
The body of a still unidentified person was found in the outer cove of Bird Island yesterday afternoon.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Adrian Pangelinan confirmed last night that two hikers found the body lying on the sand near the water.
He said the body was already decomposing.
Pangelinan was unable to provide more details as he was still waiting for the police’s 24-hour report.
The body was transported to the Commonwealth Health Center morgue.
Investigation is ongoing. No one has been recently reported as missing on Saipan.
Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Derek Gersonde said the body was found in a cove of Bird Island and not right on the beach.
He said it was DPS that first received the call about the discovery of the body.
When DFEMS received the call from DPS at 2:49pm, about 10 DFEMS personnel from Rescue Unit 1 from Susupe, Medics 2 in Garapan, and Forestry 5 in Kagman immediately responded to the scene, Gersonde said.
When they arrived at the scene at about 3pm, crime scene technicians from DPS and other police officers were already there.
He said he had no information whether the victim is male or female. A source said the victim is male.
Gersonde said all they did was help DPS officers in retrieving the body, which was placed in a body bag.
He said it took him and other DFEMS personnel only five minutes to hike down to the area where the body was located.
Gersonde said it was high tide so not everyone went down.
Last Jan. 1, Akiyama Eiki, a 22-year-old Japanese national, reportedly drowned at the shore off Bird Island.
