A sixth human foot, wearing an Adidas training shoe, bobbed ashore near Vancouver yesterday in a grisly mystery that has gripped Canada.

The discovery of five right feet and one left foot has spawned wildly contrasting theories about their origin, ranging from murders by biker gangs to the floating remains of Asian tsunami victims.

Police are focusing on a possible link to a plane crash in the area in February 2005, from which four men are still missing. But it is also possible the feet come from suicide victims or fishermen who went overboard off Alaska.

At least five of the feet were wearing training shoes that appear to have kept them afloat, protecting them from the salt water.

“This one stretches everyone’s imagination, but we really need to remember that these remains are someone’s loved one. I’m reluctant to treat this as some sort of crime thriller,” said Terry Smith, the chief coroner of British Columbia.

The feet have all been found on islands in the Strait of Georgia, off Vancouver, near the mouth of the Fraser River. The first foot was found last August by a girl playing on a remote beach on Jedidah Island, who picked up the size 12 white training shoes and undid the laces to check inside.

Six days later, a woman hiking on nearby Gabriola Island came upon another size 12 training shoe — also a right foot. Two more right feet were found on February 8 on Valdes Island and on May 22 on Kirkland Island.

The first left foot was recovered on Monday on nearby Westham Island when two people out walking their dog pulled a shoe from the water.

The sixth foot was found on a beach in Vancouver Island inside a size 10 black Adidas shoe yesterday morning.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, seeking to allay fears of a serial killer, says there is no evidence the feet were cut off.

DNA tests have been conducted on family members of four men whose sea-plane crashed in February 2005 to determine if the remains come from their loved ones.The pilot, Arnie Feast, Fabian Bedard, and brothers Doug and Trevor DeCock went missing when they crashed near Quadra Island, about 150 miles northwest of Vancouver. The body of the fifth man on the plane later washed up.

Bodies come apart at the joints when submerged in water for some time, and flesh begins to change into adipocere tissue, a soap-like substance sometimes called “grave wax” that crabs and microbes will eat, experts say.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle-based oceanographer, said that it was very strange that only feet had washed ashore.

“Running shoes mostly float, but half of all bodies float naturally,” he said. “The specific gravity of humans is about equal to water. You talk to your friends: some know if they are sinkers; others known they are floaters. Heads float too, so you would expect to find other remains. It’s obviously very puzzling.”

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