Spain's Civil Guard says police found the bodies of seven migrants in three areas off the country's southeastern coast and officials are not ruling out finding more bodies in the coming hours and days.
The bodies were found off the coasts of Alicante and Murcia.
(AA Archive)
Spanish police have said they found the bodies of seven migrants and asylum seekers they believe may have drowned while trying to reach Spain in a boat.
The bodies were found between Sunday and Monday in waters in three areas off southeastern Spain, the Civil Guard said in a statement on Monday.
Police believe the seven were of north African origin. An investigation was launched into whether they had been in a boat that was found adrift on Saturday with one migrant alive onboard.
The Spanish coast guard rescued the sole migrant some 30 nautical miles off the Alicante coast.
The 21-year-old said he was traveling with a group of around 15 people when their motorless raft flipped over and the other migrants disappeared.
Following investigations, police discovered three bodies – a man, woman and child – on Sunday near the beaches of Pilar de Horadada in Alicante.
The same day, people alerted police to two bodies floating in waters off San Javier in Murcia, while two more bodies were discovered off the coasts of Alicante and Murcia on Monday.
Autopsies are being conducted to determine the cause of death and other details, according to the police.
Officials are not ruling out finding more bodies in the coming hours and days.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies
"Shakira and her team consider that this case constitutes a total violation of her rights," the statement reads, "since she has always shown impeccable behaviour, as a person and taxpayer, and total willingness to resolve any disagreement from the beginning, even before the criminal proceeding."
In July 2021, a judge at a court near Barcelona ruled that the Colombian singer could stand trial for alleged tax evasion of 14.5 million euros ($17 million) in Spain.
In a ruling obtained by CNN, the investigating magistrate said that there is "sufficient evidence" to hold a trial for Shakira's alleged tax evasion for the years of 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Judge Marco Jesús Juberías argued that Shakira lived more than 200 days in Spain in each of those three years, making her liable to pay taxes in the country.
At the time, Spanish media reported that Shakira's team argued her main residence was in the Bahamas. But local media reported she has a home in the Barcelona area with her former partner, FC Barcelona football defender Gerard Piqué. Piqué and Shakira, who have two children together, announced their split last month.
The judge argued that Shakira and a financial adviser, also named in the ruling, used a series of companies in off-shore tax havens to attempt to hide the sources of her income during those years.
CNN has reached out to the prosecutor's office for comment, but there has been no response yet.
