I found a body floating in Maputo Bay off the Marginal this morning while on a run. I made a big effort to bring police to this body in the bay, even though I must admit the thought of going to get my equipment to photograph the floating corpse crossed my mind. It would have been kind of a sick thing to do. I did return several times throughout the day to check it out. I wasn't permitted to photograph-which I expected-but I was interested in seeing how long it would take the police in Maputo to fish out the body–most of the day I found. One thing that I definitely don't miss about being newspaper photographer is crime scenes. I hated fighting with authorities for access and always felt a bit ghoulish. I'm no Weegee.
Throughout most of the day, a pair of police were on the sidewalk above where the body floated. It was bizarre. Finally when investigators, friends and family came, I was busy answering questions and still not permitted to take photos. In the end, after the police examination, I thought it incredibly strange that a reporter (also forbidden to photograph), a family friend and two family members lifted the body into a police flatbed truck as the officials stood by.
The dead man ended up being a security guard from a nearby yacht club who they believed was attacked on the Marginal after finishing his shift last night. A friend of his who spoke very good English, was very cynical about Mozambican Police and said that there will be no real investigation into the murder, and it would soon be forgotten. He agreed with a Mozambican friend of mine who told me that life in Mozambique is cheap.
In the end, I squeezed off a few out of focus frames from my car, but even though it fits into my project with urban problems creeping down to other parts of the Marginal, I thought it wasn't worth really pushing it.
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