Sweden has announced that it is to open an investigation into the death of Holocaust hero and diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.

Mr Wallenberg, who was the Swedish special envoy to Budapest from 1944 to1945, saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis by creating safe houses and issuing visas. He did this at risk to his own life.

He was captured by the Soviet army in 1945 and never seen again. The circumstances of his death – believed to have been while in Soviet custody – have long been uncertain.

The centenary of his death has been marked at commemorations this week in Hungary. In the light of the anniversary, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he had asked experts to explore whether there was any new information relating to his death.