The body of Diego Barria, a man who had disappeared off the coast of Argentina earlier this month, seems to have been located inside a shark that was caught by local fishermen.
The family of Barría, 32, recognized his remains thanks to an identifiable tattoo, Daniela Millatruz, the law enforcement official in charge of the search, told the news in a statement. She went on to say that Barría had last been seen riding an ATV near the coast in the Chubut area on the evening of Feb. 18.
The recreational vehicle was found showing signs of damage on Monday, Feb. 20 on the beach near Rocas Coloradas, but there was no sign of Barría and a frantic search began to attempt to locate the man.
Sunday morning, two fishermen took a report to the Coast Gaurd that they had fished three school sharks near where Barría’s ATV was found. They stated that “when they were cleaning them they found human remains in one of them,” Millatruz said, continuing that “family members recognized Barría due to a tattoo that appeared on one of those remains.”
What is left of the body will go through DNA testing to officially confirm that they belong to Barría, according to Cristian Ansaldo, the head of the the police department in Comodoro Rivadavia.
“We presume Diego had an accident,” Millatruz said, “and we’re investigating if there was a vehicle involved.”
Investigators are working under the assumption that Barria was involved in an accident and the abnormally strong tidal surge over that weekend dragged his body into the water.
This theory seems likely, as sharks rarely attack humans. According to The University of Florida, “the 2022 worldwide total of 57 confirmed unprovoked cases is lower than the most recent five-year (2017-2021) average of 70 incidents annually. There were nine shark-related fatalities this year, five of which are assigned as unprovoked.”