Spanish police have confirmed that the body of a baby girl that washed up on a beach near the city of Tarragona in Spain belongs to a migrant child who died in a shipwreck along with 14 others in April. The boat, carrying the infant, her parents, and 12 other migrants, departed from northern Algeria on March 21 and sank off Spain’s Balearic islands in the Mediterranean on April 6. The tragic incident claimed the lives of all 15 individuals on board.
The discovery of the baby’s decomposed body was made by a municipal cleaning crew on July 11 at Roda de Bera beach in the province of Tarragona, approximately 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of Mallorca. The identification process was carried out by the Criminalistics Service, which matched the girl’s genetic material with a database that included her mother’s DNA.
According to the Guardia Civil, Spain’s police force, this marks the eighth body recovered from the sunken boat. Spain serves as a primary entry point for migrants and refugees seeking refuge in Europe, often fleeing violence or extreme poverty. Many individuals arrive on Spain’s southern coast from countries like Algeria and Morocco.
The eastern coast of Spain, particularly the route from Algeria, has been identified as the second-most deadly in the Mediterranean for migrants and refugees over the past five years. In 2022 alone, an estimated 464 people lost their lives in 43 shipwrecks along this perilous route, as reported by the Spanish migrant charity Walking Borders.
The latest figures from Spain’s interior ministry indicate that between January 1 and July 15 of this year, a total of 14,021 migrants entered Spain irregularly through sea and land routes. This reflects a 6.5 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year.
