Dead body discovered near Cabo de Palos lighthouse
Police are investigating whether the death could be linked to the migrant boat that turned up earlier this week with dead bodies on board
A dead body has been found near the famous lighthouse at Cabo de Palos, with authorities thinking it likely that it is connected to the migrant boat tragedy that has already claimed multiple lives this week.
The discovery was made early this Friday morning, April 24, close to the breakwater at the Playa del Levante beach, an area popular with both residents and visitors. According to sources from the Guardia Civil police force, a judicial delegation attended the scene before authorising the removal of the body, which was later transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine for a post-mortem examination.
At this stage, no details have been released regarding the identity of the deceased or the circumstances surrounding the death. However, initial lines of inquiry are focusing on a possible connection with the small boat found adrift off the coast of Cartagena earlier this week.
Investigators believe that 18 people were on board that vessel. When it was intercepted, only two survivors were found alongside three bodies, leaving at least 13 individuals unaccounted for. Police are now working to determine whether the remains discovered this Friday could belong to one of those missing passengers.
The earlier rescue operation was launched after a French military vessel reported the drifting boat, prompting a response from Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service. Survivors later told authorities they had been at sea for an extended period after suffering an engine failure, leaving them without food or water on a journey that would normally take less than 24 hours between the Algerian coast and south-eastern Spain.
On Wednesday, a cruise ship sailing around 140 miles off Cabo de Palos recovered five bodies from the sea, and identification work is currently ongoing to establish whether those remains are also linked to the same group of migrants, and whether several people had been tossed into the sea mid-journey as they died.
Authorities are now attempting to piece together what happened during the crossing and account for all those who were on board. For now, the focus remains on identifying the body found at Cabo de Palos and determining whether it forms part of the same tragic incident or whether it is unrelated entirely, while the search continues for those still missing.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
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