Authorities offer horrifying theory after five bodies with shackled hands and feet wash up at tourist hotspot

Authorities have put forward a theory concerning the discovery of five bodies that were found shackled and floating in the sea off the coast of Majorca, Spain.

An investigation has been launched to identify the bodies and establish how they died. As the five bodies were found shackled with their hands and feet tied, officers are considering murder as a line of enquiry.

The bodies were recovered by the Civil Guard in the Balearic Sea and the individuals are believed to be migrants who tried to reach the Spanish coastline from Algeria by boat.

This route is known to be dangerous and has claimed lives in the past.

Although other bodies have washed up on beaches in the past, these particular individuals were found with their hands and feet tied up.

The bodies were found washed up in the Balearic Sea, off the coast of Majorca (Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Getty)

The bodies were found over the course of a month in different locations. One body was recovered on May 18, the Express reports, as another shackled body was found ‘a few days later’ in the waters of Formentera.

An investigation is ongoing to determine the circumstances of their deaths.

The Civil Guard in the Balearic Islands suspect the migrants might have had a disagreement during the cross and were handcuffed and thrown into the water, LBC reports.

This comes after the Balearic Government Delegation said 31 bodies had been recovered between January and June this year from the beaches and seas in the Balearic Islands.

Due to a lack of DNA evidence, documentation and decomposition of the bodies, identifying who the people were is near 'impossible' for authorities.

UNILAD has approached Spain’s Civil Guard for comment.

Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, previously addressed the government's migration policies (Europa Press News / Contributor / Getty)

In 2024, Spain unveiled a three-year initiative to provide residency and work permits to 300,000 undocumented migrants with the goal of expanding the 'ageing' workforce, AP reported.

Spain's prime minister Pedro Sánchez has described the government's migration policies as a way to combat the country's low birthrate.

Sánchez visited three West African nations in August last year to address migration to Spain's Canary Islands.

Men from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and other locations embark on dangerous sea trips with the hope of securing better job and economic opportunities, often while also feeling violence or political turbulence in their home countries.

Between January 1 to November 15 of 2024, more than 54,000 migrants entered Spain irregularly, a figure that was up 15.8% from 2023, according to data from the Spanish ministry of Interior.