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Spanish authorities have launched an investigation after discovering multiple corpses in the Mediterranean Sea whose hands and feet had been tied, police said on Monday.

According to regional daily , since mid-May Civil Guard boats have spotted at least five bodies with their feet and hands bound. Police suspect that the victims may be migrants from North Africa, the Majorca Daily Bulletin .

Diario de Mallorca quoted investigators as saying that the migrants may have been tied up and thrown into the sea during the crossing, potentially due to a dispute with their smugglers.

The investigation into suspected homicide aims to identify the victims and work out the causes of their death, a Civil Guard spokeswoman told AFP.

The discovery shows "the cruelest side" of the irregular migration route, regional president Marga Prohens told local media.

Although most of the tens of thousands of Europe-bound migrants Spain receives arrive via the in the Atlantic, hundreds attempt the shorter crossing from north Africa to the Balearic archipelago in the Mediterranean.

Authorities said 31 bodies had been found in the waters and beaches of the archipelago between January and June of this year, the Majorca Daily Bulletin earlier this month.

In 2023, the United Nation's International Organization for Migration recorded 8,542 migrant deaths around the world – with .

There have also been dramatic rescues in the region. Earlier this month, a charity ship rescued more than 50 migrants from an abandoned oil platform in the Mediterranean, where , according to the Spain-based NGO Open Arms.

And in January, the Spanish coastguard  on an inflatable vessel carrying migrants to the Canary Islands.