Spanish police have confirmed the bodies of missing Dutch international volleyball player Ingrid Visser and her partner Lodewijk Severein have been found near to the city of Murcia.

At least one person has been arrested in connection with the deaths, news agency ANP quotes Spanish police as saying. El Pais says two people were arrested in Valencia.

Newspaper El Mundo says the couple were found, ‘half buried, in an orchard next to a house in the village of Alquerías, some 12 kilometres from Murcia’.

Local paper La verdad de Murcia writes that according to its sources ‘the arrested persons have links with organised crime’.

Appointments

The couple disappeared in Murcia on May 13 and police found no trace of them since they checked into their hotel. Their hire car was later found on a Murcia street.

Her family alerted the police after the couple failed to turn up for an appointment in the Netherlands. They also failed to meet a hospital appointment in Spain where some reports say they were due for fertility treatment.

Visser played for local club CAV Murcia between 2010 and 2012. She ended her international career last year with 514 caps.

More to follow