The cause of death of a teenager who participated in anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong was inconclusive, according to a medical expert who rejected a suggestion by government pathologists that the girl drowned, a court heard on Wednesday.

A drowned person would take in an equal amount of liquid in both lungs, Philip Beh, principal clinical practitioner at the University of Hong Kong’s medical school, told the Coroner’s Court as an expert witness.

However, the late Chan Yin-lam, 15, had an inexplicable difference of 500 milliliters between the left and right side of her chest, he said.

Another departure of Yin-lam’s body condition from a standard drowning case was the small amount of liquid in her stomach, Beh said. She had only 10 milliliters of starchy liquid in her stomach, the government pathologists’ report showed.

Beh said he was also troubled by the unclothed body. Yin-lam’s body was found in waters off Tseung Kwan O last September, and Beh said that while loose clothing could have been washed away by the currents, underwear was unlikely to come off.

“The female body itself, stark naked, is already very suspicious,” he said.

The university clinical practitioner was responding to the report by two government pathologists who carried out the autopsy, who said there could be a “distinct possibility” that Yin-lam had drowned herself as no apparent fatal injuries were found on the body.

Beh said he could only conclude that the corpse had been submerged in water for a prolonged period of time, but not that she had drowned, based on the evidence presented by the pathologists.

Yin-lam’s death has been a matter of rife speculation among protesters in Hong Kong. Some believed that she was murdered for her participation in the protests. They said she could not have drowned herself because she was a competent swimmer.

The girl’s mother and grandfather previously told the Coroner’s Court that she had heard voices speaking to her. The court also heard that Yin-lam had a troubled childhood and displayed rebellious behavior from a young age.

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