Police from the Netherlands joined a nationwide manhunt in South Africa on Wednesday for a 24-year-old Dutch woman who went missing shortly after Christmas.
Elna de Beer, a spokesperson for the South African police, said the Dutch detectives were assisting in the search for exchange student Marleen Konings, who had been due to meet a friend in Cape Town on December 28, but did not arrive at the rendezvous.
”Dutch police officers arrived in the country on Wednesday to help in the investigation,” she said.
A large group of Konings’ family and friends are also in the country and are being supported by helping professionals, de Beer said.
Konings, a second-year student studying media, art and design, had come to South Africa to complete a film project.
She was last seen with a tall slender man who was said to be in his mid-40s and has front teeth capped with gold.
The two were seen leaving a hotel in a hired car in the southern town of Mossel Bay for Cape Town on December 26.
Winneke Lobeek, the friend Konings had been due to meet in Cape Town, said it was totally out of character for her to have failed to turn up without explanation.
”There is definitely something going on that is not normal,” she said.
Since Konings’ disapearance, police have searched forests and mountains for signs of her.
De Beer said there had been various purported sightings of Konings and the man with the gold-capped teeth around South Africa and that the police were following up all leads of locations where the two had reportedly been spotted.
She said a car that the couple had reportedly been using had been found in central South Africa on Wednesday.
”The car is being scrutinised for evidence, this is the latest lead we have,” she said. – Sapa-AFP