Late this afternoon, the Alicante Civil Guard Provincial Maritime Service reported the recovery of a body in an advanced state of decomposition, found floating roughly 35 miles southeast of the port of Alicante. The person was male, and no identity could be established due to the clothing and the absence of documents on the remains.
The alert sounded around three in the afternoon when a cruiser registered under the Marshall Islands flag sighted the decomposed body and immediately notified authorities. The maritime rescue service then alerted the Civil Guard, who began coordinating the response from the Alicante port.
The patrol vessel Guadiaro River of the Maritime Service departed from Alicante to the coordinates provided by the Marshall Islands cruiser. After the body was recovered, the vessel returned to port, docking at one of the Poniente docks shortly before nine o’clock on Friday night.
The Civil Guard informed the judicial commission to carry out an examination of the remains as soon as they arrived at the Alicante port. The body was transported to the legal medical institute in Alicante, where an autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death.
Authorities will review missing persons records to help identify the deceased. One hypothesis under consideration is that the individual may have originated from a coastal community and traveled on small boats, possibly having moved from Algeria to the peninsula at some point before the discovery.
Officials emphasized that the investigation remains open as more information becomes available. The discovery underscores the challenges faced by maritime safety and forensic teams in rapidly assessing lifelike traces at sea and the importance of systematic documentation to establish identity and circumstances surrounding the demise. The Civil Guard will continue to coordinate with judicial authorities and medical examiners while updating any developments related to this case, awaiting further outcomes from the autopsy and ongoing inquiries into the person’s origins and last known movements. — Report by Civil Guard authorities and maritime responders for this incident attribution.