How long can the body of a baby or very young child remain at sea? The answer will be given by the coroner who, this Wednesday, will perform the autopsy on the body that a municipal cleaning worker found on the sandy beach of Roda de Berà (Tarragonès) on Tuesday morning. And the answer may help to solve the mystery surrounding the minor being investigated by the judicial police of the Civil Guard of Tarragona.
The body had been on the beach for more than a day. In fact, some regular bathers yesterday claimed to have seen the lump already on Monday, covered in sand, but they thought it was a rag doll whose head had been torn off.
But around half past eight in the morning, a cleaning worker who went to pick up the package discovered that it was actually human remains. He alerted his superiors and they called 112, and from that moment the police and judicial operation was activated. The Roda de Berà municipal police cordoned off and protected the beach area, and the judge on duty was alerted, who also notified the forensics and the Civil Guard of Tarragona, in charge of the investigation. The Mossos d'Esquadra also made an appearance, as well as Civil Protection.
The autopsy will be essential in this complex investigation. The coroner will try to determine the causes of death, the origin of the minor, his age and the time he had been in the water. They will also try to find out if it was a violent death of a criminal nature.
The body kept what looked like pajamas or baby clothing. Clothing will also provide valuable information. "He is not wearing the proper clothing for being on the beach," said the mayor of Roda de Berà, Pere Virgili, who spoke to practically all the media. The politician assured that the minor was wearing, in addition to a bodysuit, "a kind of tracksuit and also a jacket."
The first step carried out by the investigators was to rush to consult the list of minors reported in recent times, not only in the Tarragona area, but also on both sides of the mouth of the Ebro.
All the hypotheses remained open last night at the investigators' table. The mayor was the most daring in not ruling out that the victim could come from the shipwreck of a migrant boat, a really complicated option, although not impossible.
"That it is not related to the discovery a few days ago of the remains of a woman...", Virgili predicted. Just over a week ago, the dismembered corpse of a woman appeared on the Miracle beach in Tarragona, an investigation also undertaken by the Civil Guard. Court number 7 of El Vendrell has opened an investigation, and the judge is awaiting forensic and police reports.
Another of the key tests to advance in the investigation will be the DNA analysis and it will also be necessary to contrast them with those of the body of the woman found on the Miracle beach.
The body appeared at the southern tip of the beach of the Costa Daurada, next to the breakwater of the port of Roda de Berà and very close to the popular urbanization of Roc de Sant Gaietà.
At noon, some bathers located items of clothing, slippers and a toy. They deposited all the elements in a bag and waited for the return of the Civil Guard to rule out that it had any relationship with the body of the child.
Today, Tarragona and its surroundings are excluded from the routes of people traffickers. Hence the thesis that the body was dragged by the tides to Roda de Berà, although it is not impossible, it is less probable. And not only because of the great distances in miles, but because the sea is full of predatory species that would hardly have respected the body of a minor.
