BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- The naked body of a girl found in an oil palm plantation in Malaysia on Sunday has been identified as that of a 17-year-old girl from China.

    

Li Mingqian was reportedly an excellent student at her school. [sina]

Li Mingqianm, from Southwest China's Guizhou Province, enrolled in a private college in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan, for an English course in mid-January, police said.

    Li had been raped and sodomized.

    Li was last seen by her housemates in Mantin on Friday morning. She had told her three housemates that she was going to Kuala Lumpur to look for a part-time job to finance her expenses.

    It was not known whether she was going to Kuala Lumpur alone.

    On Friday night, she told a housemate that she was in Klang and planned to return by taxi. That was the last communication between her and her housemates.

    Police said Li was probably murdered by a taxi driver who took advantage of the girl but did not rule out the possibility that she was gang-raped before she was killed.

    Police would investigate why she had gone to Klang when she did not know anybody there.

    They were also puzzled by Li's intention to look for a part-time job as her mother was a doctor and stepfather a businessman.

(Source: China Daily/Agencies)