A federal police spokesman told AFP that fishermen alerted authorities after they found the boat near Braganca, on Brazil’s northern coast.
“According to civil police and forensic experts, there are 20 bodies. Braganca federal police chief Alexandre Calvinho said they believe they are Haitian refugees,” the police said in a statement.
Forensic experts must also confirm the exact number of victims.
Emergency crews took the boat to the village of Vila Tamatateua, where investigators have released the body.
The victim is believed to have died of starvation and dehydration, but further investigation is needed, police said.
The federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it has opened criminal and civil investigations into the case.
According to local media, fishermen found a small boat Saturday morning off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean between the cities of Braganca and Quatipuru.
This site is 3,500 km from Haiti.
G1 news site, attributed to one of the fishermen, showed a wooden boat with shiny blue paint floating in shallow water.
Haiti is at the forefront of a deepening humanitarian and security crisis.
Beginning in late February, powerful groups joined forces to launch coordinated attacks across the Caribbean, attacking police stations, prisons and airports, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said this month that the situation was driving the exodus.
He also said there are more than 360,000 internally displaced people in Haiti, including “more than a few.”
In March, around 13,000 Haitian migrants were forcibly repatriated by neighboring countries, according to the IOM.
The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that about 161,000 Haitians were living in Brazil last year.
