Baby whose headless body was found on Spanish beach died after migrant boat sank
A baby whose headless body was found washed up on a Spanish beach last week died along with her parents when a migrant boat sank.
The badly decomposed body was found on the beach in the Costa Dorada resort of Roda de Bera on July 11.
At first it was believed the baby was aged between two to three years, but following testing it emerged she was a baby girl and had been around eight months old when she died.
Today Spanish police confirmed the child died on a migrant boat which capsized near the Balearic Islands on April 6. 15 people, including her parents, lost their lives.
The baby was identified following DNA testing, which showed a match to her mum.
The Civil Guard said the rickety wooden boat, called a patera in Spanish, had left Cherchel in Algeria on March 21 and had been at sea for 17 days when tragedy struck.
Eight bodies, including the baby girl’s, have been recovered.
Roda de Bera mayor Pere Virgili said last week that the child could have been on a migrant boat that sank in the Mediterranean.
Referencing the massive number of migrants who have died or disappeared and are feared dead while trying to make the dangerous crossing to Europe, he said: ‘The hypothesis that this baby’s body is another one from this Mare Mortum off our beaches is on the table.’
He said the clothes the baby had on, which included a jacket, didn’t point to her drowning in a typical beach accident.
A council beach cleaner made the horrific discovery and alerted his bosses, who called the police.
Civil Guard officers cordoned off the area and moved locals and holidaymakers away before an investigating judge authorised the removal of the body.
It subsequently emerged the decomposed body had washed up on the beach the previous day, but had been ignored by passers-by who mistook it for a doll.
Roda de Bera is a 25-minute drive north of the Spanish east coast city of Tarragona. Barcelona is just over an hour’s drive north.
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