BODY PARTS HAVE been discovered in a canal in Amsterdam during the search for missing Irishman Paul Nolan Miralles whose jacket and bag were recovered from the water yesterday.

Nolan Miralles, 36, went missing last week and a much-publicised search has been underway along the route which he is thought to have walked home following a night out with friend on 13 April.

Nolan Miralles is half-Spanish and has been living in Amsterdam for the past 10 years. A well known and popular employee at the nearby Hard Rock Café his family and family have been actively participating in the search for him.

Police sniffer dogs, sonar equipment and divers have all been involved in the search this week.

A jacket and a bag belonging to Nolan Miralles was found and positively identified as his by his family yesterday, according to Dutch police.

In a statement on their website, Amsterdam police said that human body parts had been found in the waters of the Passeerdersgracht. It is believed Nolan Miralles’ body may have been mutilated by a boat propeller.

The police say that they are co-operating with the family in recovering body parts and they are being transferred to a morgue to be compared to DNA samples taken from Nolan Miralles’ family members.

TheJournal.ie understands that the family alone have been on the canal waters since early this morning attempting to locate and recover his remains using equipment they have sourced themselves.

Dutch Police confirmed to TheJournal.ie that they were not initially taking part in the search today as they had spent the last few days searching for him. A spokesperson said: “Today we didn’t want to do that anymore because the rest of Amsterdam needs police officers also.”

A spokesperson added that since the family had recovered more body parts the police are now taking part in the search again this afternoon.

A positive identification of the pieces of body being examined by a Dutch police forensics team is expected within the next few days.