Police investigate after body discovered on Benalmádena beach

Deceased man may have been a migrant crossing the Mediterranean in a small boat

ÁLVARO FRÍAS / JUAN CANO

Wednesday, 19 January 2022, 10:19

Spain's National Police force has opened an investigation to determine the cause of death of a man whose body was discovered on a beach in Benalmádena.

The body was found on Monday 17 January after people in the area called the emergency services to alert them to the grim discovery on the shoreline of Las Verdas beach.

After the removal of the body, it was transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Malaga (IML) for forensic examination and an autopsy.

It is believed the man, of African descent, may have died several days earlier and had been drifting at sea until currents washed his corpse ashore in an advanced stage of decomposition. The autopsy will determine his cause of death.

Sources suggest the National Police will be investigating if he was a migrant travelling in a small boat. The investigation remains open.