Caleb Obari, 21, a Nigerian graduate of a Ukrainian university, has been found dead in Odesa Oblast, police reported.
His body was found on Sept. 12, near the coastline in Chornomorsk, a port city in Odesa Oblast, nearly three weeks after he disappeared on Aug. 20, while taking a boat trip in Odesa.
According to the police, the cause of death is yet to be established.
The police opened an investigation into Obari’s death. The case is currently being investigated as an accident.
No further details have been provided at this time.
According to the Odesa volunteer group called Rescue Platform 911, Obari was invited to a party on a boat by Vera Topalova, owner of a BDSM-themed bar Iznanka in Odesa. Out of some 10 passengers on the boat, Obari was the only foreigner, according to Alexander Sopelnik, head of Rescue Platform 911.
The boat set sail from the Sauvignon Yacht Club in Odesa and went four kilometers out from the coast. It returned without Obari.
Obari’s friend waited for him after the party was over. When the boat arrived without Obari, other passengers gave his personal belongings, including a mobile phone, to Obari’s friend, without any explanation of what happened.
Six days after Obari’s disappearance, Topalova wrote a Facebook post describing what happened on the boat. She said that she did invite Obari to the party. According to her, she has known Obari for over six months.
According to Topalova, Obari went swimming in the sea together with some other guests. However, some minutes later Obari went missing.
“Within a few minutes, I heard that they started looking for him. These were the most terrible minutes of that day,” Topalova’s post reads.
Initially, none of the passengers of the boat said that Obari drowned, the Rescue Platform 911 reported.
According to the platform, Obari’s friends say that he couldn’t swim.
Now, according to Topalova, she is targeted by hateful comments after online reports seemed to allege she was involved in the disappearance of Obari. She said she was questioned by the police.
Initially, Obari’s disappearance reportedly wasn’t getting much attention from local authorities, which prompted some Nigerian social media users to start sharing posts with #JusticeforCaleb and #BlackLivesMatter hashtags.
On Aug. 31, a rally calling for justice for Obari was held near the Nigerian Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv.
