Madrid, Spain

Wednesday June 25, 2025

An investigation has been launched following the discovery in recent weeks of several bodies of migrants with their hands and feet bound off the Balearic Islands, Spain’s Guardia Civil said on Monday.

A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil told AFP that the investigation, which concerns suspected homicide, is intended to identify the victims and determine the circumstances of their deaths.

According to the regional daily El Diario de Mallorca, which broke the story, at least five bodies have been recovered by Guardia Civil boats since mid-May, having appeared with hands and feet tied.

According to the daily, the first was recovered on May 18 after being spotted by a Belgian vessel west of Formentera, the smallest of the four islands making up this Mediterranean archipelago.

“A few days later, another body turned up in similar circumstances, also in the waters off Formentera. And this has been repeated several times over the last few weeks”, writes the newspaper.

According to investigators quoted by El Diario de Mallorca, these migrants may have been tied up and thrown overboard during their crossing to Spain, perhaps after a dispute with their smugglers.

This is the “cruelest face” of migrant smuggling, the regional president of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, told journalists, denouncing “mafias that profit from human and humanitarian tragedies”.

Humaniterre with AFP