Bodies in US canal ‘identified’

Investigators believe they have identified two children whose bodies were found stuffed into luggage and dropped in a canal in the US state of Florida, police have said.

The victims are thought to be brother and sister, and their deaths appear to be related to a domestic situation, a police spokeswoman said.

The bodies were found on Wednesday near the city of Delray Beach, one in a duffel bag and the other in a suitcase.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Police have not released the names of the two children – a girl aged between six and 10 and a boy believed to be 10 to 12 years old.

The girl’s body was found first after a passerby alerted police to a duffel bag floating in the middle of the canal.

The boy’s body was then found folded up in a suitcase roughly half a mile (800m) away, in a section of the canal that separates Delray Beach from Boca Raton.

Investigators employed the use of sonar technology and a remote-controlled submarine to search the water for additional clues on Thursday.

“They are trying to see if there is anything that is going to help us move further on this,” Delray Beach Police spokeswoman Nicole Guerriero.

It is not clear how long the children’s bodies had been floating in the canal before they were found.