Horror in Majorca as at least five bodies with hands and feet shackled are plucked from water off Brit holiday island

Scottish Sun

6 hours ago

SEA OF DEATH Horror in Majorca as at least five bodies with hands and feet shackled are plucked from water off Brit holiday island
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AT least five bodies have been recovered on the beach of a popular tourist island in Spain.
Police are investigating the chilling discovery of people found dead at sea in Majorca with their hands and feet tied up.
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Five bodies were tragically found at sea in Majorca
Credit: Getty
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.
In 2024, 517 people died while crossing from Algeria into Spain, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
The fact these bodies were found shackled has led cops to suspect they were murdered for unknown reasons.
Cops have opened an investigation into their horrific deaths.
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However, the investigation has been challenging because migrants that cross irregularly rarely report any abuses they suffer during the journey from the Algerian coast.
The bodies were discovered last month, but the 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, which despite being based in the Canary Islands had moved to the Balearic Islands to carry out patrol services.
The crew members of the Río Segura then went to a point marked by the Belgian boat and about two hours later they located the lifeless body floating in the sea.
When the Civil Guards recovered the man's body they discovered that his hands and feet were tied and that he was wearing an orange life jacket.
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The Civil Guard patrol boat transferred the body to the vicinity of Cap de Barbaria, south of Formentera, where it was transferred to a boat that took it ashore.
The body was later examined by Civil Guard agents and a forensic doctor, in an attempt 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 different 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 are 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 counted, while on Saturday, 106 were recorded and on Sunday, June 22nd, another 39.
The authorities are keeping surveillance devices active in the event of 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 Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera - beaches that have been dubbed as "a graveyard" by a leading Spanish newspaper.