The gruesome discovery of body parts in a Hamburg sewer continues to pose a mystery. An angler fished a bag of human remains from the Ernst August Canal in the Wilhelmsburg district on Sunday and informed the police. Divers searched for more body parts in the water until Sunday evening. Police are now appealing for witnesses to come forward.

The angler had informed the police on Sunday morning at 11:08 a.m. First he pulled a lady's slipper from the canal under a railway bridge, which contained several bones. The angler then carried a bag of other human remains to the surface of the water. After he got a glimpse of it, the bag sank back down.

The police could not provide any information on the identity of the body on Monday. "However, we assume that the remains could have been there for a long time," said a police spokesman. The investigations by the homicide commission and the public prosecutor's office continued. Further findings should now result from the forensic medical examinations.

The case is reminiscent of a prostitute who went by the name of Rosa in Hamburg-St. George had worked. She was killed in the summer of 2017 and her body was dismembered. In the weeks that followed, body parts were repeatedly discovered scattered in the Elbe and in the Goldbek Canal. The case remains unsolved to this day. According to the police, there is no recognizable connection with the discovery of the body parts in Wilhelmsburg.