The dead body of a young woman was found in a field near Villa Rosa on the outskirts of Paceville yesterday evening.
Tourists nearby seemed oblivious
Circumstantial evidence led the investigating team to believe the badly decomposed body was missing 17-year-old Russian student Polina Rahman, police sources said.
Ms Rahman was last seen at about 4 a.m. on July 17 close by in Paceville, where she attended her school’s welcome party.
Police sources said their initial suspicion was that Ms Rahman had been walking along the main road on the periphery of Pembroke when she accidentally tripped over a low boundary wall and fell to her death in the valley below, remaining there until the body was found.
A magisterial inquiry has been launched and an autopsy and toxicology tests will be carried out.
The discovery was made just before 6 p.m. yesterday by foreigners who noticed a stench as they were passing by, sources said.
Girl’s body found
Police and forensic teams were seen heading up the track past Blue Hawaii Bar down at St George’s Bay and combing a field in the valley.
The father of Ms Rahman was on the scene. Both her parents arrived in Malta late last week and issued an appeal for information.
A police car barred access to the track, but at around 8.20 p.m. it made way for a black police van that drove away carrying the corpse.
Tourists on the beach and in the nearby bars, cafés and pubs seemed oblivious to the tragic discovery made in their midst.
Just 100 metres away at the Villa Rosa language school residence, young foreigners joked and laughed happily as they walked past posters asking for information about Ms Rahman’s whereabouts.
Ms Rahman was reported missing two days after she arrived in Malta. She failed to return to her host family’s house after a night out in Paceville.
On Monday the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta (Feltom) issued a statement saying Ms Rahman’s school must clarify why a minor was out, unsupervised, at 4 a.m.
Ms Rahman’s school was not a Feltom member.
Concern about the safety of young females at night increased on Monday when Agnes Revesz, an 18-year-old Hungarian woman residing in St Paul’s Bay, was also reported missing.
Ms Revesz was last seen on Sunday in Qawra wearing a pink dress and white running shoes. She is slim with red hair and blue eyes.
The young Hungarian had lived with her auntie and uncle in St Paul’s Bay since March and was reported missing by relatives.
Last night a Facebook group called “Help to find Polina Rahman and Agnes Revesz” had nearly 500 members.
Anyone with information about Ms Revesz’s whereabouts should phone the police on 119 or contact the nearest police station.