The bodies of three people were found in recent days after the capsizing of a pirogue "of about twenty people" from Brazil, said the prosecutor of the Republic of Cayenne Friday evening.
The sinking at sea of the canoe, off French Guiana, was discovered after several days.
It is evaluated on Saturday August 28 at the end of the evening, according to the first elements of the investigation.
The rescue of a Brazilian national on Tuesday by a pleasure craft raised the alarm.
Desperately clinging to a buoy in the Kourou channel, the survivor said she had drifted after the capsizing of a canoe that left Oiapoque on the river border of Guyana.
A pirogue from Brazil
The results of the air and sea searches carried out Tuesday and Wednesday until the evening are "three deceased people found, four castaways rescued alive", according to the prosecutor.
“The canoe obviously came from Oiapoque with passengers (of Brazilian nationality) bound for an illegal gold panning site according to the first statements collected (…) We can consider that there were around twenty people in the canoe “, Continued Samuel Finielz.
According to the head of the Brazilian civil police of Oiapoque Charles Correa, contacted by AFP on Friday evening, 25 people were on board including three crew members and among the passengers, "a minor of 15 years".
"A flagrant investigation was opened for aid to illegal stay with endangerment, aggravated manslaughter and human trafficking," said prosecutor Samuel Finielz.
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