POLICE IN the Netherlands are investigating the discovery of the remains of a man in a canal in Amsterdam to establish if they are those of missing Irishman Paul Nolan Miralles.
The 36-year-old Dubliner, who had lived in Amsterdam for 10 years, has been missing for more than a week. He was last seen at 4am on Wednesday, April 13th, after a night out with work colleagues.
Members of his family now fear he could have fallen into a canal and that his body may have been sucked into the propellers of a pleasure boat.
The jacket worn by the missing man, and a bag containing his T-shirt, were discovered shredded in the propeller of a glass-topped canal tourist boat in Amsterdam on Tuesday night.
A shoulder recovered from the water near to where he worked was being forensically examined yesterday.
It has emerged that, prior to the craft embarking on a trip with tourists on board, the occupants of a rowing boat reported spotting a body in the water beside them on Tuesday afternoon. Dutch police arrived with sonar equipment, closed off the canal gates and dispatched a diver, but they failed to locate the body.
Mr Miralles, a photographer and waiter at Amsterdam’s Hard Rock Café, was described by his Danish employer Pia Schjerlund as “a lovely person, a loyal employee who everyone loved”.
His family and workmates had launched a widespread search but fears that Mr Miralles, who was reportedly “merrily drunk” following the night out, had fallen off his bicycle into the canal increased as the days passed.