Joe Saliba, who works in the Maltapost central mail room, was intrigued when he received a Christmas card with only a name and the country, Malta, written on the envelope.

The sender, an American, realised that it was a long shot.

"Long lost friend. Postmaster: give this a try. I dare you!" the sender wrote on the envelope.

Mr Saliba rose to the challenge and pulled out the telephone directory, luckily finding that there was only one person listed with that name. The card was delivered, much to the surprise of both the sender and the recipient.

Tony Barbaro Sant, Maltapost's communications manager, said that most cases of incorrectly addressed mail were the result of people genuinely forgetting to include some information.

"We get letters with the name, house number and street, but no town or village, or with the village but no street. In that case, we usually circulate it to the branches for the postmen to check - they are the experts after all.

"But this case, where just the country was given, was quite unusual. I must admit that solving this kind of mystery is actually a challenge we enjoy," he said.