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Badly decomposed body found by paddleboarders off La Mata beach in Torrevieja
Police believe the man may have been a migrant whose boat was shipwrecked attempting to reach Spain
Two paddleboarders made a distressing discovery on Monday afternoon, June 8, after spotting a body floating in the sea off the northern end of La Mata beach in Torrevieja. They raised the alarm immediately and Guardia Civil officers, along with Torrevieja Local Police, arrived at the scene shortly afterwards.
The body, that of a man, was in an advanced state of decomposition, which made the recovery operation particularly complex. The Local Police's Environmental Unit was responsible for bringing the body ashore and once recovered, it was covered with a thermal blanket before being removed from the beach.
Investigators say there were no obvious signs of violence on the body. Due to the state of decomposition, identification through fingerprints won't be possible, so a DNA sample has been taken in the hope of establishing who the man was.
One of the main lines of investigation centres on the man's clothing, which has led police to believe he may have been travelling by boat at the time of his death. Authorities have raised the possibility that the body could be linked to a migrant boat that was shipwrecked while attempting to reach Spain.
The discovery comes amid a wider increase in the number of bodies washing up along Spain's eastern coast in recent times, with many of these journeys believed to originate in Algeria, where strong winds can push small vessels badly off course.
The Guardia Civil is continuing its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man's death and is working to confirm his identity.
Image: Torrevieja Emergencias
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