The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating after a human foot was found in a hiking boot on the shore of Sasamat Lake in Port Moody over the weekend.
A youth attending the Sasamat Outdoor Centre first noticed the black, size 12, Cougar brand footwear floating several metres from shore on Friday.
By the next morning the boot had washed up on to land and several campers found a sock and remains of what an autopsy confirmed on Monday was a human foot within.
The foot is the ninth found in southwestern B.C. in the past four years, however, this is the first one discovered in freshwater. The other eight cases also involved running shoes, not hiking boots, the Coroner Service noted.
"The autopsy did not show any toolmarks or impressions on the bones or any evidence to suggest the foot had been mechanically separated from the body," said the Coroners Service in a press release. "Like the others, it appears to have disarticulated naturally as a result of having spent a period of time in the water."
DNA testing will be undertaken and the foot will be compared using the province's data bank of missing persons.
The Coroners Service said it would be working with local law enforcement agencies in determining the identity of the foot.
