A human foot has washed up on a beach near Vancouver, the 11th such find in four years in the region, a Canadian coroner said Thursday, adding to a macabre mystery.
An autopsy on the foot established that it had become separated from its leg due to prolonged water exposure, a statement issued by the British Columbia Coroners Service said, noting no evidence of trauma.
DNA analysis was being carried out on the foot, which was found on Tuesday afternoon and was the eighth recovered in the Vancouver area since 2007. Another three feet have washed up on US beaches off neighboring Washington state in the same time period.
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Canadian authorities have opened an investigation each time a foot has been discovered and forensic tests have determined the sex of each victim, four of which were missing persons, according to DNA tests.
Although none of the medical analyses indicated foul play, local officials have said that the high number of bridges over waterways in the area points towards possible suicides of those whose feet were found.
"We cannot completely exclude a murder, we don't know why they died, but we have no evidence they were murdered," Coroner Stephen Fonseca, chief of the identification unit, told AFP.
"Every year we find incomplete bodies in the woodlands, on land and in water. Feet will separate naturally, by decomposition and by action of scavengers -- coyotes, bears and small rodents."
