NICOSIA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the Embassy of the Philippines in Athens arrived in Cyprus to monitor the search for several women who were reported missing on the island. They are feared to have fallen victim to a serial killer, police officials said on Friday.
They said the Philippine officials met with police officers involved both in the search for the missing women and in the investigations in the serial killer case with a view to providing further assistance, including collecting DNA samples of missing people to help the identification of the victims.
The suspected serial killer, army captain Nicos Metaxas, was reported to have confessed to the killing of five women and the minor daughters of two of them. Three of the women and one minor came from the Philippines.
Police have already retrieved three bodies. One has been identified as Mary Rose Tiburcio, aged 38, but the other two bodies are still unidentified, pending the results of medical examinations of body samples.
Police teams on Friday continued their search at three locations where the suspect indicated that he had dumped the bodies of his victims. Two of these locations are mines-turned-lakes.
One of the lakes, with a depth at the center of about 100 meters, is known as the "red lake" because of the color of its water. It is considered dangerous.
It was originally an open mine, which was shaped as a crater by workers extracting pyrites with the use of excavators and dynamite.
The bottom of the mine collected rainwater for many decades, which turned red due to the presence of sulfur and oxidized metal.
Analyses showed that the water has a high acidity and is akin to battery acid.
Private companies operating robot cameras are awaiting advice as to whether it is safe to submerge their equipment in the water.
Cypriot investigators facing their first ever serial killer case have requested help from specialists of the British police, who promised to dispatch five experts on Monday to help in the investigation and the preparation of a court case.
