#Nassau, June 10, 2019 – Bahamas – His Excellency Ellison E.
Greenslade QPM, High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has been dispatched to
Italy to make further inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the deaths
of the two young Bahamian men whose bodies were found in the River Po in city
of Turin, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
High Commissioner Greenslade, a
former Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, arrived in Italy on
Saturday, June 8, 2019.
The Ministry has reported that
the bodies of both men were pulled out of the waters on Tuesday, June 4 and
Wednesday, June 5 by Italian authorities. And that on Monday, June 10,
autopsies would be performed to determine the exact cause of death of
Foreign Service Officer Alrae
Ramsey, and of Psychology Ph.D. student, Blair Rashad Randy John.
Minister of Foreign Affairs the
Hon. Darren Henfield has also spoken with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy
in relation to the investigation; as well as the possible timeline in relation
to the bodies of both young men being returned home for burial.
Meanwhile, the Minister has also
been in constant contact with the families of both men, pertaining to his
Ministry’s role in the investigation.
Mr. Ramsey was employed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since December 9, 2013. Formerly, he was posted at The Bahamas Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti as Third Secretary/Vice-Consul in 2016-2017. In 2018 he was granted an In-Service Award to pursue a one-year Postgraduate Diploma programme in Diplomacy/International Relations and Languages at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in Austria for the period September 2018 to June 2019.
Mr. John, a St. Augustine’s College
graduate of the Class of 2009, was near completion of his Ph.D. in Psychology
at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada. He traveled to Turin to make a psychology
conference presentation on behalf of the university.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will keep the public updated as details of the investigation continue to unfold. And has asked the public to join in praying for the families, in the wake of such tragedy.
Release: Ministry of Foreign Affairs