A group of Sunday afternoon diners made a macabre discovery after the headless and handless corpse of a woman washed up along the beach where they were eating.
The horrifying incident took place at around 5pm in front of customers at Club 200 restaurant in Marbella, who quickly called the police.
As well as missing the main identifying parts of the body, the victim had also suffered a large slash along the abdomen.
The lack of identifying features are sure to complicate the murder investigation that police opened.
The witnesses spotted the body floating in the surf, and at first intended to dive into the water and rescue the individual, who they believed to be drowning or in distress.
However, they were advised against it due to a storm in the area, and in the end the body washed up along the shore by itself, revealing its mutilated state to those present.
The Guardia Civil is working to establish the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death and identify any potential suspects.
It is not yet clear how long the body had been in the water before it was discovered.
The first step will be to examine reports of missing persons and determine an approximate date of death.
The investigation is ongoing, and authorities are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
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