By MARICARMEN RIVERA Staff Writer, (856) 794-5114

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP - The N.J. State Police tentatively identified the two bodies recently found in a farm pond as those of two migrant farmworkers.

The bodies were found Nov. 15 in a long-submerged car in an irrigation pond off Post Road near Sikkings' Farm.

Sgt. Al Della Fave, spokesman for the State Police, said the two bodies were tentatively identified as Mateo Isabel Ocampo, 35, and Bernabe Valero Pedrosa, 45 - both were identified as farmworkers, according to police.

According to Della Fave, the bodies were identified after police found some personal documents inside the car. However, the bodies were sent to the Atlantic County Medical Examiner's Office and an official identification still is pending.

"We will wait for the medical examiner's report to see if it's really them," Della Fave said. "But we are 99 percent sure it is them."

Both men had the Sikkings' Farm listed as a residence.

Police first suspected the bodies were those of farmworkers after Isabel Ocampo's brother filed a missing person report earlier this year.

Police said he came from Mexico to visit his brother and was not able to find him, so he filed the report.

The accident happened when the car was traveling east on Post Road and it crossed into the westbound lane, left the road and swiped a pole before slipping into the pond.

According to police, the vehicle apparently had been in the water for some time, perhaps as long as two years.

Once the bodies are formally identified by the Medical Examiner's Office, families of the two victims will be contacted and the bodies will be released to the families, Della Fave said.