The District Prosecutor’s Office in Biała Podlaska is awaiting forensic reports on five bodies recovered from the River Bug in April this year. Investigators are working to establish the victims’ identities and determine how they died. Since the start of 2025, authorities in Poland’s Lublin Province have recorded more than 300 attempts to cross the border from Belarus illegally.
Five Separate Investigations
Prosecutor Michał Roman told the Polish Press Agency that his office has opened five investigations into bodies discovered in recent weeks in the Janów Podlaski district of the Bug River.
“Between 5 and 18 April, five bodies were found. All of the proceedings are still at a preliminary stage. We are waiting for written opinions from forensic experts at the Medical University of Lublin’s Department of Forensic Medicine,” Roman said.
Each investigation is being conducted under the article covering involuntary manslaughter. Efforts are under way to identify the deceased and pinpoint the causes of death. Citing the interests of the ongoing inquiry, the prosecutor declined to say whether any personal belongings were recovered with the bodies.
Possible Migrant Victims
Captain Dariusz Sienicki of the Nadbużański Border Guard Unit earlier released initial information about the discoveries.
The first body was recovered on 5 April, two more on 15 April, and the final two on 18 April—Good Friday.
Sienicki noted that investigators cannot rule out the possibility that the victims were migrants attempting to cross from Belarus into Poland. So far this year, border guards have recorded roughly 300 such attempts; the figure was about 530 for the whole of last year. The Bug River, he stressed, poses a serious danger: swift and untamed, it is difficult to cross, yet migrants try to traverse it both by swimming and in inflatable boats.