Police are investigating the discovery of a “headless” child’s body on a Costa beach.
The remains of the child, thought to be aged between two and three, were discovered on the sand early on Tuesday morning at a beach in the Costa Dorada resort of Roda de Bera in the east coast province of Tarragona.
A council cleaner made the grim find and alerted his bosses who called police.
The body of the child, said to be missing other body parts as well as its head and thought to have been washed onto the beach from the water, is understood to be in a state of decomposition.
Civil Guard officers have cordoned off the area and are moving locals and holidaymakers on to other areas of the sand before an investigating judge authorises the removal of the body.
Roda de Bera mayor Pere Virgili has been quoted in local press as saying the youngster could have been on a migrant boat which capsized in the Mediterranean.
The town hall said in a tweet: “We inform you that this morning the body of a two to three-year-old child was found on the shoreline on the Costa Dorada beach.
“The area is cordoned off and officials are waiting for the judge to authorise the removal of the body. We ask the public to avoid the area.”
Roda de Bera is a 25-minute drive north of Tarragona. Barcelona is just over an hour’s drive north.
The town, well-known thanks to its Roman arch, was mainly dedicated exclusively to agriculture until the second half of the 20th century when it became an important tourist spot on the Costa Dorada.
The Civil Guard, which is investigating, has yet to make any official comment.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “All we can confirm at the moment is that the body of a baby has been found at Roda de Bera beach in the province of Tarragona. The alarm was raised at 8.50am on Tuesday morning. The matter is still under investigation.”
It is understood some of the first people to discover the human remains thought initially they were looking at a doll because of the decomposed state of the body and did not contact the police.
It was confirmed it was a child’s body once Civil Guard officers arrived. The remains were removed around 11.30am local time following judicial authorisation.
An autopsy will take place in the coming hours to try to determine the cause of death.
The court probe is being led by a judge based in the nearby town of El Vendrell.
A court spokesman said: “A court of instruction, Court of Instruction number 7 in El Vendrell which is acting as a duty court, has today authorised the removal of a body found on a beach in Roda de Bera.
“The judge has opened the corresponding inquiry and is awaiting receipt of the corresponding forensic and police reports. We do not have any extra information we can make public at this moment in time.”
As well as trying to establish the cause of death, forensic experts will try to calculate how long the youngster’s body had been in the sea.
