Authorities launched a search Thursday along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a day after a human leg washed up along the shoreline.
Palos Verdes Estates Police Department said in a written statement that the limb was found in the 800 block of Paseo Del Mar, the same spot where a capsized boat belonging to two fishermen washed up earlier this week. The statement offered no other details about the body part.
The department said that a cadaver dog with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was used to thoroughly search the area for additional remains, but none were found.
Police officials said the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner will try to identify the remains that were found and if the limb is connected to the capsized boat incident that occurred Dec. 23.
According to police, the men went fishing aboard a small boat that Monday afternoon, launching from San Pedro. Weather forecasters had issued a small craft advisory that day, warning boaters in Los Angeles County that there could be waves up to 10 feet high.
The men were reported missing the following morning after they didn’t return from fishing. Shortly after, their overturned boat was discovered by a person along a stretch of a rocky shoreline in Palos Verdes Estates, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The coast guard conducted a search and rescue Christmas Eve for the two men but were forced to suspend the operation the next day amid dangerous surf and high winds.
The boaters’ disappearance came during a week when massive waves damaged the historic Santa Cruz Wharf and a man died after being trapped by debris in high surf at Monterey Bay.
The discovery of the leg marks the second time that human remains have washed up in the same area. Last month a human skull and bones washed ashore in the same area. Coroner officials have not identified those remains.
Times staff writer Tony Briscoe contributed to this report.
