Severed Foot find confuses Canada police
Pastor Dale Morgan
Severed Foot find confuses Canada police*
By Ian Gunn
BBC News, Vancouver
The police in Canada have a gruesome mystery to puzzle over as after a
human foot was found washed up on a beach near the west-coast city of
Vancouver.
It is the fourth such foot to be found on beaches in the area in the
past eight months.
All four of the feet were wearing socks and running shoes and all four
had been in the sea for some time.
But police say they have no idea how or why they came to be there and
hope DNA tests, now under way, may help.
Last August, two human feet washed up on the beaches of two small
islands north of Vancouver. Then in February another single, right foot
drifted ashore.
And now a fourth - again a right foot - has been found - this time on a
beach in suburban Vancouver. The city's newspapers and coffee shops are
buzzing with theories to explain the mystery.
Organised crime, boating accidents - even the 2004 Asian tsunami - are
all being offered as possible, if amateur, solutions. The professional
detectives are saying very little.
Crash scenario
The police say they are treating the cases as suspicious, but are quick
to play down the wilder rumours about gangs and tsunamis. Forensic
experts say it is actually quite common for body parts to become
separated after they have been in the water for a long time.
Why only right feet have been found is still a complete mystery.
The police say it is possible the feet come from the passengers aboard a
small plane which crashed into the water in the region several years ago
- their bodies were never recovered.
But the police caution that DNA test results are needed before they can
say whether they have managed to solve the mystery of the four right feet.