The body of a police officer who went missing on Tuesday after falling from a moving police boat off the coast of Utualii, was recovered yesterday off the coast of neighboring village Levi, Saleimoa.
An official statement from the Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services said Sergeant Evile Ekueni was reported missing during a routine maritime coastal patrol Tuesday.
Samoa Observer reports sources on the Police patrol boat Nafanua confirmed that the officers were not wearing life jackets at the time of the incident.
Three police officers fell overboard in the mishap and two managed to swim ashore and raised the alarm.
A search was launched immediately but Sgt Ekueni was not found until yesterday.
Sergeant Ekueni had served with the Samoa Police Nafanua Maritime Unit for more than six years and previously worked in other departments of the Ministry of Police, including the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
