A four-year-old boy has been found dead on a beach in Andalucia after suffering a suspected ‘violent death’.
The horror discovery was made between Garrucha and Mojacar in Almeria on Wednesday night, prompting a major police operation.
The child’s mother and another man, reported to be her partner, have both been detained.
According to sources close to the case, the man is not the child’s father. Investigators are treating the incident as a suspected violent death, pending confirmation from the autopsy.
The alarm was raised on Wednesday evening after the child was reported missing, triggering an urgent search along the coast.
The boy’s body was located at around 11.30pm near a petrol station on the coastal road. Multiple patrols from the Guardia Civil, Local Police and Civil Protection searched the shoreline after the initial alert.
The child’s mother, originally from Garrucha but currently living in another nearby municipality, was questioned shortly after officers arrived.
She was later detained along with a second man. Both remain under investigation as police work to determine their level of involvement in the boy’s death.
The beach area was sealed off during the night as specialist units carried out a detailed forensic sweep.
The case has been placed under a secrecy of proceedings order, meaning investigators cannot disclose further details while crucial evidence is gathered.
Police are not ruling out further arrests or additional lines of inquiry.
The autopsy will establish the cause of death, whether the child died at the scene or elsewhere, the time elapsed since death and any additional injuries.
The incident has left residents across the Levante area reeling, with authorities branding the case ‘unprecedented’.
The Garrucha Town Hall has declared Thursday an Official Day of Mourning in memory of the young boy.
Flags are flying at half-mast and a minute’s silence is to be held at 1pm outside the town hall.
