Missing backpacker’s family hire jungle search team

THE family of a missing British backpacker is to hire a team of professional jungle searchers to continue looking for her amid fears she may have drowned.

Amelia Bambridge from Worthing, West Sussex, was last seen on the island of Koh Rong late on October 23.

She was reported missing after staff at Police Beach, a private venue on the island, found her purple rucksack containing her purse, phone and bank cards the following morning.

Members of Ms Bambridge’s family have now travelled to the island to join in the search, including her brother Harry.

Yesterday, Mr Bambridge said they intend to hire a specialised jungle search team to find the missing 21-year-old.

He said: “We had use of a dog today, which proved beneficial and gave us some more hope.

“And also, we are looking to hire a private search team.”

Mr Bambridge added the family thinks the lack of information about his sister’s movements on October 23 is “suspect”.

He said: “You know, it’s a party. It’s not that busy. There’s plenty of staff there. One minute she’s there and next she’s gone. And no one seems to know right now.”

Mr Bambridge also reiterated his father Phil’s suggestion that his sister could have been abducted.

“I totally believe that someone knows what’s happened to her,” Harry Bambridge said.

“And, you know, it’s just a matter of finding some information that’s going to tell us more.”

The police chief for Preah Sihanouk province, the area where Ms Bambridge was last seen, previously said he believed she has drowned.

Major General Chuon Narin said searches of Koh Rong island and in the nearby Gulf of Thailand had failed to provide any information about her disappearance but searches would continue.

“From my first preliminary conclusion she may have drowned in the sea because we have found her belongings on a rock very close to the edge of the sea,” he said.

Mr Bambridge said there could be a chance his sister was lost at sea and asked anyone who found a body in the waters to inform the family.

Six men who work at restaurants, hotels and guest houses on the island were questioned by police and released without charge on Tuesday evening.

Officials said the men were taken into custody because of complaints by Western tourists that they had acted badly towards visiting women.