Police are investigating the discovery of a ‘headless’ child’s body on a Spanish beach.
The remains of the child, thought to be aged between two and three, were discovered on the sand early this morning at a beach in the Costa Dorada resort of Roda de Berà in the east coast province of Tarragona.
A council cleaner made the grim find and alerted his bosses who called police.
The body of the child, said to be missing other body parts as well as its head and thought to have been washed onto the beach from the water, is understood to be in a state of decomposition.
Civil Guard officers have cordoned off the area and are moving locals and holidaymakers on to other areas of the sand before an investigating judge authorises the removal of the body.
Roda de Berà mayor Pere Virgili has been quoted in local press as saying the youngster could have been on a migrant boat which capsized in the Mediterranean.
The town hall said in a tweet: ‘We inform you that this morning the body of a two to three-year-old child was found on the shoreline on the Costa Dorada beach.
‘The area is cordoned off and officials are waiting for the judge to authorise the removal of the body. We ask the public to avoid the area.’
Mr Virgili told El Pais: ‘An operator has seen what he thought was a two or three-year-old child.’
The mayor said the council worker saw the child laying face upward, initially giving the impression that he was a doll.
‘He is not wearing the proper clothing for being on the beach,’ Mr Virgili added, explaining that the body was dressed in ‘a bodysuit, a kind of tracksuit and a jacket’.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: ‘All we can confirm at the moment is that the body of a baby has been found at Roda de Berà beach in the province of Tarragona.
‘The alarm was raised at 8.50am this morning. The matter is still under investigation.’
It is understood some of the first people to discover the human remains thought initially they were looking at a doll because of the decomposed state of the body and did not contact the police.
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