Body of missing Dutch tourist found in lake in Colombia

A Dutch tourist who went missing in Colombia a week ago has been found dead in a lake.

The 41-year-old woman from Schagen, named by local media as Marlies Genz, was last seen when she left her hostel in Salento, a coffee producing region in the west of Colombia, at around 1pm on May 25.

She was due to walk through the coffee fields to a farm an hour away, but never arrived. Local authorities are investigating the cause of her death after her body was found on Monday.

Friends and family raised the alarm and sent social media messages after they were unable to contact her. Their concerns intensified when she failed to appear for a horse riding trip on Wednesday, two days after she disappeared.

“There are no words that do justice to how we feel,” her family said in a statement issued by the family support organisation Namens de Familie.

“Marlies had been hugely looking forward to her trip through Latin America, which she had planned down to the last detail.

“She had clearly been having a wonderful time for the last few months and many people enjoyed following her on social media. It is impossible to come to terms with the fact that her adventure has ended prematurely.”