TW

The Guardia Civil's criminal police in Pollensa have taken charge of an investigation to attempt to identify a body that was found floating in the sea in Pollensa Bay on Friday.

The lower half of a body was found close to the area that is popular with kitesurfers. It was in a state of decomposition and the feet had gone. Trousers that had remained could assist in the process of identification. Officers from the Guardia's diving division searched the immediate area to see if there were any other remains. None were discovered.

The mutilation of the body, the Guardia believe, was the result of time spent in the water. The sea is very "aggressive", and bodies can appear to have been in the water longer than they actually have been.

DNA samples were extracted from the body and will be checked against the missing persons database. The Guardia are not ruling out the possibility that the body is that of a migrant who drowned in the Mediterranean. The DNA results could take months in shedding any light on the identity of the body.