Horror as five bodies with hands and feet shackled wash up at holiday spot
Police are probing the gruesome discovery of people found floating at sea in Majorca with their hands and feet tied up.
They are believed to be migrants who tried to reach the Spanish coastline via a dangerous crossing from Algeria – a route that claims hundreds of lives each year.
517 people died while crossing from Algeria into Spain in 2024, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
But the fact these bodies were found shackled has led cops to suspect they were murdered for unknown reasons.
While an investigation has been launched into the tragic deaths, it has proven challenging as migrants rarely report any abuses they suffer during their boat journey.
The bodies were discovered last month, but police maintained total secrecy about the investigations.
One of the bodies was spotted floating in the sea by a private Belgian-flagged vessel sailing in waters west of Formentera on May 18.
The patrol boat of the Civil Guard Río Segura arrived at the scene.
Crew members located the lifeless body floating in the sea around two hours later.
When the Civil Guard recovered the man's body they discovered that his hands and feet were tied and that he was wearing an orange life jacket.
The patrol boat moved the body near Cap de Barbaria, south of Formentera, where it was handed over to another vessel that brought it ashore.
The body was later examined by Civil Guard agents and a forensic doctor to clarify the circumstances of the death.
A few days later, another body was also spotted in the waters of Formentera.
In total, at least five bodies have been found with their hands and feet tied, floating in various parts of the waters of the Balearic Islands.
All of them are presumed to be migrants who were travelling in a boat.
The procedure provided for cases of violent deaths has been activated.
The corpses will be examined by Civil Guard agents and forensic doctors, who take necrofingerprints (if the state of the body allows it) or DNA samples.
Civil Guard investigators suspect that the migrants who appeared tied hand and foot may have had a confrontation during the crossing.
They would then have been handcuffed and thrown into the sea – which would point to clear cases of murder.
The Balearics have lately recorded the highest number of boat arrivals.
Between June 20 and June 22, security forces and Maritime Rescue teams intercepted and rescued a total of 344 people who were trying to reach the coasts of the archipelago in precarious boats.
On Friday, 195 people were recorded, on Saturday, 106 people, and on Sunday, another 39.
Authorities are maintaining surveillance to monitor for any new arrivals.
At least 2,695 people have so far arrived in the archipelago in 130 boats, according to data from the regional government.
Over the past six months, around 30 bodies have washed up on Balearic beaches, including in Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera – beaches that have been dubbed as 'a graveyard' by a leading Spanish newspaper.
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