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IMMIGRATION

‘Scuba skeleton’ sparks Morocco ID mystery

The discovery of a wetsuit-clad skeleton floating in the sea near Alicante, Spain, with flippers, phone, waterproofed clothes, a Moroccan passport and a wad of cash has triggered speculation as to the victim's identity, origin and cause of death.

'Scuba skeleton' sparks Morocco ID mystery
Police have speculated that the mystery victim may have perished while trying to swim from Morocco to Gibraltar. Photo: Jose Luis Roca/AFP

The crew of the yacht Yaiza found the "skeletonized body" adrift in the Ibiza canal, a stretch of sea which separates Alicante on mainland Spain with the island of Ibiza, according to Spanish national daily El País on Tuesday.

A Civil Guard vessel sailed to collect the body and take it for a forensic autopsy at the Alicante Institute of Legal Medicine.

Investigators at the Civil Guard headquarters are now busily attempting to trace the victim's identity through the items found with the body.

Clues include a black-and-grey wetsuit, flippers, and a backpack bearing the logo 'Keep Moving".

Inside the backpack, were a mobile phone, clothes in perfectly waterproofed packaging, a passport, and a bundle of cash worth €540 ($700).

Despite the scuba-type apparel, no oxygen bottles were found.

Currents and sea creatures are believed to be responsible for stripping the body of flesh, of which "not an ounce" remained.

The passport was issued to a Moroccan man, Abdelaziz Elfayafi, born January 8, 1989 in Imzouren.

Imzouren is a city of 100,000 residents in the Rif region of northern Morocco, near Al Hoceima, from where thousands have emigrated in recent years to seek a better life abroad.

It has not been confirmed that the body belongs to Elfayafi, but police sources suggested that the victim may have been an immigrant attempting to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco to Spain.

The body could have been swept by currents up Spain's east coast to the location where it was discovered.

Elfayi's profile on professional networking site LinkedIn shows that he held an Accountancy and Information Management degree.

His curriculum, posted on a number of internet sites, indicated that he spoke Arabic, French, English and Dutch.

His online data was last updated a month ago.

Civil Guard sources indicated that as no record of Elfayi exists in the Spanish database they would be continuing their enquiries with the cooperation of Moroccan authorities.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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