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8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 AUGUST 2026 FEATURE Lost at sea: The unidentified Four bodies have been recovered from Maltese waters since January, all of them unidentified. MaltaToday speaks to the people responsible for finding out who they were and finds a system that can build a profile from bone alone, but cannot find a match without someone to come looking EVERY unidentified body that arrives at Mater Dei's mortu- ary gets a number, which stays attached to the case for as long as it remains open. For most, it never closes. The system has been in place since around 2004, when staff began noticing a pattern—bod- ies recovered from Maltese wa- ters, heavily decomposed, with nothing on them to say who they were. The number was a practi- cal solution to an uncomfortable reality, since in the absence of a name, you need something to use instead. Since January, four bodies have been pulled from Maltese waters in a heavily decomposed state. Remains were recovered at Ġne- jna Bay on 25 January, and police noted at the time that identifica- tion would be difficult due to the state of decomposition. Three weeks later, a body turned up off Fomm ir-Rieħ. Two days af- ter that, another near Ċirkewwa. Then a fourth, off the cliffs at Fawwara, on 27 February. All three remain unidentified, a fact the police confirmed when approached by MaltaToday. It is not a new problem, and the numbers behind it are larg- er than three. Between 1 January 2020 and today, the police say 72 bodies have been recovered from Maltese waters. Of those, 53 were eventually identified, but 19 were not. What the law requires Under Maltese law, when a body is found in circumstanc- es of sudden, violent, or sus- picious death, or where the cause is unknown, the police are required to report it to a magistrate, who is then legally obliged to open an inquiry. The purpose is to establish the cause of death and who the person was. The moment a body arrives at Mater Dei Hospital, the po- lice are informed and the mag- istrate takes jurisdiction. A number of experts are appoint- ed, and the body does not move without author- isation. What fol- lows is an autop- sy carried out by two forensic p a t h o l o g i s t s , and it is here that the work of identifica- tion begins. David Grima, a biomedical scien- tist at Mater Dei Hos- pital, has been part of this process for years. "Across Europe, around 20% of cases get identified," he told JULIANA ZAMMIT jzammit@mediatoday.com.mt The mortuary at Mater Dei Hospital (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) Cirkewwa