Assistant police commissioner Manuel Cassar called a crime conference yesterday afternoon to tell the media that it was certainly not a crime and that the police had excluded the possibility of foul play. He said the woman had been buried at sea according to permits issued by the Maltese health authorities.

The badly decomposed body was found three miles outside The Grand Harbour when a French vessel was carrying out dredging work to lay underwater cables. It had been tied to an iron beam and a brick.

Mr Cassar said the body was identified following an autopsy which was carried out yesterday morning. When asked how the body was identified since it was so badly decomposed, Mr Cassar simply said that there were indications as to whose body it was. Asked for further details about the woman, Mr Cassar said it would be unethical to reveal such information but said that the woman had been old when she died. Asked whether the woman was Maltese, Mr Cassar said that she had relatives in Malta.

He said police investigations revealed that the woman had expressed a wish to be buried at sea instead of at a cemetery. Asked whether this was common practice, Mr Cassar replied in the affirmative. He said the procedure was that the health authorities must issue the necessary permits and then the body is buried in a location which would be recorded by the authorities.

Asked what still had to be done, Mr Cassar said magistrate Michael Mallia and the court experts he appointed had to conclude the inquiry and then it will be up to the court to decide whether the body will be re-buried at sea or in a cemetery.