A 64-year-old Briton drowned at Qawra close to the Fra Ben Restaurant, yesterday, the police said.

The man was still wearing a shirt and shorts when he was taken out of the water. He may have slipped and fell in and was then dragged away by the somewhat rough sea, sources said. The body was recovered by an Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) rescue launch and taken to the Maritime Squadron base at Haywharf in Pietà and then to the hospital morgue.

Members of the police mobile squad were stopped by passers-by near the Qawra Palace Hotel at about 1.15 p.m. who told them there was a corpse in the sea.

The mobile squad members commandeered a private speedboat to get to the middle of the bay and confirmed that the corpse was that of a man, probably a tourist.

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