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Firefighters work to remove a body, thought to be that of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam, from inside a water tank on the rooftop of Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles, California. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn |
A body found in a large water tank on top of a downtown Los
Angeles hotel is thought to belong to a 21-year-old Canadian
woman who went missing under suspicious circumstances while
staying there late last month, police said.
Elisa Lam, a student from Vancouver, British Columbia, who
was visiting Southern California on her own, was last seen at
the Cecil Hotel on January 31. Los Angeles Police detectives
had characterized her disappearance as suspicious.
A security video taken in an elevator at the hotel and
released by the LAPD last week showed Lam acting strangely,
hiding in a corner and repeatedly peering around the elevator
doors into the hallway.
A body had been found in one of four large water tanks on top
of the Cecil Hotel on Tuesday (local time) after a
maintenance worker went up to investigate reports of low
water pressure, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman said.
Detectives were on the scene, but had not yet determined
whether the remains were those of the missing woman, the
spokeswoman said.
Some two dozen firefighters could be seen cutting through one
of the four large, cylindrical water tanks under a canopy
that shielded them from news helicopters overhead.
Police have said that the reason for Lam's visit to Los
Angeles was unclear, but that her final destination was
expected to be Santa Cruz in central California.
She speaks Cantonese as well as English and was known to use
public transportation such as trains and buses.
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