Body of Cameroon bishop found floating in river

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Religious and administrative leaders wait to receive the remains of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoit Balla on the banks of River Sanaga some 90km west of Cameroon's capital Yaoundé on Friday June 2. PHOTO| NDI EUGENE NDI 

The body of a Cameroon bishop who disappeared on the night of May 30 has been found.

The body of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoit Balla of the Bafia diocese was found floating in the Sanaga River on Friday some 90km west of the capital Yaoundé.

Administrative authorities and officials of the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon were present to receive the body.

Local fishermen had discovered the bishop's white land cruiser parked by the bridge over the River Sanaga on Wednesday morning.

The late Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Balla of the of the Bafia diocese in Cameroon. PHOTO| NDI EUGENE NDI

Archbishop of Douala Samuel Kleda, who is also president of the Cameroon Episcopal Council, later confirmed the prelate’s disappearance in a statement.

After two days of intensive search by a rescue team composed of members of the national fire brigade and local divers, a fisherman of Malian nationality alerted security forces that he had seen the lifeless body of the Roman Catholic Bishop floating some 20km from the spot where his car was parked at the time of his disappearance.

It is believed the prelate committed suicide by jumping into the river early Wednesday.

But security forces said they could not immediately determine whether the prelate committed suicide.

The body of the 58-years-old cleric was ferried to the morgue at Yaounde General Hospital amid tight security.

“An autopsy will be conducted after which the remains will be handed to the hierarchy of the church for burial,” the governor of thee Central region Naseri Paul Bea said.

The state prosecutor of the centre court of Appeal in Yaounde, Jean Fils Ntamack in a release announced that a judicial inquiry has been opened to determine the cause of the “suspicious death” of the prelate.

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