A body recovered from the Danube in Upper Bavaria a few days ago is a child.
This was announced by the police in Bavaria on Monday after a forensic examination.
The identity of the four to six-year-old boy has not yet been clarified.
"It is currently also not possible to make any statements about the circumstances of death."
The Ingolstadt criminal police formed an investigation team to clarify the background.
According to the information, it was still unclear whether the boy fell victim to a crime.
Several media had previously reported that the dead man was a child.
A canoeist saw something floating in the Danube near Vohburg an der Donau (Pfaffenhofen district) last Thursday and brought it ashore with his paddle.
It wasn't until the weekend that it became clear that it was a human body.
With the support of police divers, sniffer dogs and boats on the river, the investigators searched for clues – initially without any results.
The dead boy had probably been lying in the Danube for some time.
"At the moment we are assuming a longer period of lying in the water," said a police spokesman.
The period cannot be narrowed down further.
"It may well be that a natural death is the basis." The investigations went in all directions.