Maria Fernanda Sanchez: Police Probe Death Of Mexican Student After Body Found In Berlin

German police are probing the death of a 24-year-old Mexican student after her body was found in a canal in Berlin. The young woman, Maria Fernanda Sanchez, went missing on July 22.

Sanchez's body was found Saturday by a person walking along a bridge in the Adlershof district of the German capital. Berlin police said in a statement that "no third-party blame can be assumed" for the woman's death but added that the investigation continues.

The "cause of the death will be clarified in the course of an autopsy," officials said.

Sanchez's case garnered widespread attention in Mexico, and recently, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he would request his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to do more to find the young woman. The local media reports said that Sanchez was a master's student in Germany.

In a tweet, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena offered condolences and support to the family and said that "we will promptly follow up on the investigation of what happened."

The Mexican ambassador to Germany, Francisco Quiroga, also confirmed that an autopsy would be carried out to reveal the cause of her death. But he noted that, as the police pointed out, there were no signs of violence, El Pais reported.

"Although there are no signs of violence, no scenario has been ruled out and the autopsy will give us much more light on Tuesday or Wednesday," he said, adding that the repatriation of the body could take a few days and that the duration depends on the results of the autopsy.

"If there are no problems, the authorities will deliver the body to the parents and they will decide whether to cremate it in Berlin or take the body to Mexico," Quiroga said.

A statement from Sanchez's family said, "It is with great pain that we inform you that today, Aug. 5, the German police confirmed that our daughter Maria Fernanda was found dead."

"We ask for respect for our daughter's memory, our mourning and our privacy. We appreciate your discretion and understanding," the statement further said.

When Sanchez, called "Maffy" by her friends, left her student accommodation last month, no one noticed her absence. She had also not taken her cell phone with her. Interpol had issued a yellow search notice following her disappearance. During the search for Sanchez, the police suggested that she may have been in an "exceptional psychological situation."

Her disappearance led to a citywide search. Apart from leaflets with her information distributed across Berlin, an Instagram page was also set up.