The police are investigating the discovery of a woman’s corpse which they believe was murdered and then dumped at sea in Sliema a few hours before she was found early yesterday morning.

Assistant Police Commissioner Manwel Cassar explained that the woman, in her twenties, was discovered just after 7am after the police received two calls from people who said they were seeing what looked like a corpse floating in the sea close to the former Chalet.

The woman was wearing a black top and three quarters denim trousers and had a black plastic bag, described as similar to those used for garbage, on her head. Mr Cassar said that an autopsy carried out on the woman’s body revealed that she had died of asphyxia.

He said that contrary to information broadcast throughout yesterday on the local media, the woman was not hung but died of asphyxia.

Mr Cassar said investigators are still trying to establish the woman’s identity. When asked whether there were indication that she was Maltese, Mr Cassar replied that the woman did not match any of the missing Maltese women. He said the police are not excluding that she is foreign.

Mr Cassar explained that preliminary tests on the body revealed that the woman had died before she was dumped at sea and that the injuries she had could not be directly connected to violence.

He said that although the bag was tied around her neck, no weight was found which could have been used to keep her underwater.

Moreover, he said, her hands and legs were not tied. He said the woman must have been dumped at sea a few hours before she was found.

Mr Cassar said searches were planned in order to see if anything is found on the seabed but the rough seas forced all plans to be called off.

The Assistant Comm-

issioner appealed to the public for assistance in order to identify the victim. People are asked to call in confidence on 2122-1111.

This is the first murder of 2007.

The last murder took place in October 2005.