Late superstar Anita Mui's ashes missing in Hong Kong

The ashes of late pop superstar Anita Mui, once dubbed the "Madonna of Asia", have gone missing from a monastery in Hong Kong, police said Tuesday.

The diva of Cantopop -- a popular music genre sung in the Cantonese language -- died from cervical cancer aged 40 in 2003 after selling millions of records.

Mui's family went to the police in July after a fan spotted that the urn was no longer in its place, but without going public.

But on Saturday they issued a statement saying that the lack of progress in the police investigation was causing them "tremendous distress and emotional anguish".

The statement, coinciding with what would have been Mui's birthday, triggered outrage from fans.

"I'm really angry, and I feel so sad and heartbroken," one said on social media on a page devoted to Mui.

Hong Kong police told AFP in a statement on Tuesday that the case had been referred to the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories South for further investigation.

"No arrests have been made as yet. The police will continue to liaise with the complainant and relevant parties and take appropriate follow-up action," police said.

With her bold and versatile visual style, raunchy stage performances and a stream of hits, Mui transcended the image of Chinese female singers.

Her distinctive, melancholy voice was used for the theme songs in dozens of films and shows, and she remained phenomenally popular right up to her death.

During her heyday in the 1980s, Mui performed for 28 consecutive nights to sold-out houses, breaking the Hong Kong record at the time.

The disappearance of her ashes is not a one-off in Hong Kong.

Last year, those of Hong Kong martial arts star and director Lau Kar-leung also went missing, and his family were reportedly blackmailed. The ashes were recovered months later.