Body in sewer identified as boy missing for a month
A naked body found inside a sewer in Tuen Mun on Monday has been identified as that of a 16-year-old boy who was reported missing by his parents last month.
Police, who say there were no injuries to the body, are trying to work out how he got into the sewer. Investigators were told the teenager had been using drugs.
The corpse was initially identified as that of Lee Wai-shing, 16, from descriptions and by two tattoos, one of them a dragon, on the upper arms.
Family members confirmed the identity yesterday afternoon.
A spokesman for police said a postmortem examination had failed to establish the cause of death. The teenager had been dead for more than two weeks.
The body was found on Monday when a railway worker investigating complaints of a foul smell saw what he thought was a severed leg under a manhole near Siu Hong Light Rail station.
One theory police are understood to be working on is that the teenager might have somehow entered the sewer and been overcome by fumes.
'It is unlikely the victim entered the sewer through the manhole because the manhole cover is too heavy and it also needs tools to open it,' said Tuen Mun assistant district commander (crime) Superintendent Ricky Poon Suet-man.
Police are classifying the case as 'dead body found' while the investigation continues.
Lee, who was unemployed, went missing after leaving his Tin Shui Wai home on January 16 to visit friends in Tuen Mun.
He lived with his parents and elder brother and sister.
