Forensic examination of the bones contained in an athletic shoe found Friday on a beach near here indicate it is from a human foot.

Police in Clallam County announced the finding by the King County Medical Examiner on Monday. However, forensic experts are not sure if the foot belongs to a man or a woman.

The foot inside a right, black athletic shoe and sock was found by a woman camping on a beach near Jim Creek about 30 miles west of Port Angeles. She reported the shoe to police the following day.

Investigators will now determine the DNA of the foot at the state crime laboratory to see if it matches with DNA prints from any of the five severed feet in shoes that beached on the shore of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada last year.

Of the feet found in Jedidiah Island, Strait of Georgia, and Vancouver Island in Canada, four belonged to men, including a pair from a Canadian man missing since last year.

Forensic experts explain that a body submerged in water breaks into pieces with the foot often coming off first and surfacing because it is in a buoyant sneaker.