Belize has many traumatic deaths on land – and there are also a good many at sea, including homicides, and drowning's of Belizeans and tourists. Now it's hard enough to get crimes solved or causes of death identified when they occur on solid ground, so you can imagine the challenges when the deaths occur in water.

That's why last week several members of the Coast Guard dive team, police crime investigators and medical examiners participated in an aquatic homicidal death investigation training course. The course was organised by the US Embassy, and aimed to equip law enforcement with the skills necessary for analysing all aspects of aquatic death cases in the country. Participants were taught how to determine the cause of death of victims along with proper case and forensic management skills.