Argentine fishermen captured a tope shark in which the remains of a man who disappeared a few weeks ago in the south of that country were apparently found, according to The Associated Press news agency.
The family of Diego Barría, 32, recognized the remains by a tattoo, said Daniela Millatruz, the agent in charge of the search, in statements to the local press.
Barría was last seen on February 18 in an SUV near the coast in Chubut province.
The car was located two days later on a beach near Rocas Coloradas, but there was no sign of Barría, who was the father of three children.
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On Sunday morning, two fishermen went to the coast guard to report that they had caught three sharks near the place where the vehicle was found and "at the time of cleaning them, one of them had remains of human dermis," Millatruz declared.
The fishermen caught three dogfish off Caleta Olivia, according to the newspaper El País.
When they opened one of them, they found a
human forearm with a tattoo,
a detail that allowed his family to identify him, added Millatruz.
The authorities continue to investigate what exactly happened to Barría.
“We presume that he had an accident,” Millatruz said, “we are investigating whether there was a vehicle involved.”
The remains will undergo DNA analysis to officially confirm that they belong to Barría, Cristian Ansaldo, head of the Comodoro Rivadavia city police department, said in an interview with local press.
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The shark in which the human remains were found measured about 4.9 feet (1.5 meters), Ansaldo said.
The investigators' most likely hypothesis is that Barría had "an accident and was swept away," Ansaldo said, noting that there was a strong rise in the tide the weekend he disappeared.
"My heart went with you!
I love you forever," Virginia Brugger, who was identified as Barría's partner and who had been posting about the search, wrote on the Facebook social network.