Preah Sihanouk province police yesterday were still trying to identify the body of a suspected foreign national who was found dead on Monday on the Chok Cheay beach in front of the provincial hall.

Choun Narin, provincial police chief, said his officials hadn’t yet identified the victim or the suspect. “We are [doing] . . . research about the identity of the body,” he said.

Narin said police were sending a picture of the victim to various embassies in Phnom Penh through the Ministry of Interior’s immigration department in their effort to identify the man, but he added that as of yesterday, he had not received any information back.

Phol Phorsda, Sihanoukville police chief, said officials believed the victim could be German or Italian, without explaining why. Meanwhile, several embassies said yesterday that they had not received the request from police.

Daniela Dempf, first secretary and deputy head of mission at the German Embassy in Phnom Penh, said her embassy had not been notified or contacted by the Cambodian authorities about this case.

Mathilde Teruya, spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Phnom Penh, said her embassy had not yet “received any photograph at this point”. Jay Raman, spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, said the same went for his embassy.

The Russian and Australian embassies in Phnom Penh didn’t respond to a request for comment, and the Italian Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment.