The relatives of a 27-year-old woman who disappeared at the weekend have been informed of the find.

The dead person was found at around 7pm on Monday evening by a police dog in a hilly, wooded area near a tram stop. Police were at midnight unable to confirm whether the body was of a woman or a man.

“It is lying so that it has been difficult to find. We don’t want to destroy any possible evidence,” said Ulf Edberg at Västra Götaland police to the TT news agency.

The body was found during the search for two young people who disappeared in the Hisingen area of Gothenburg at the weekend, apparently independent of each other.

In both cases police suspected early that the missing persons had been the victim of a crime and opened investigations into suspected abduction.

A 27-year-old woman disappeared on the way home early on Sunday morning. She was last spotted on a tram heading in the direction of Länsmansgården.

A 19-year-old man went missing after leaving a party in Backa late Friday night. He left the party together with a friend to head home by bus but they were separated at the bus stop near Backadal. The last sign of life was from a mobile phone call with his sister.

Police technicians estimate that work on the scene where the body has been found will continue through the night until Tuesday morning.