find amelia
Mum joins search for missing British backpacker, 21, who vanished in Cambodia amid fears she got lost after beach party
THE mum of a missing Brit gap year student has joined the search to find her daughter who disappeared in Cambodia.
Linda Bambridge, 52, is hoping Amelia, 21, got “lost on her way back” to her hostel through dense forest in the Far Eastern country.
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Amelia, from Worthing, West Sussex, was travelling alone for the first time.
She was last seen at a beach party in Koh Rong, in the south west of the country, at 3am on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old was due to check out of her hostel at noon yesterday to leave the island later in the afternoon with a friend.
She has been declared officially missing by local authorities.
As she prepared to leave Linda, 52, said: "I have got numbers of people to contact in Cambodia.
"I’m going to Bangkok, getting another flight to the country, then transport from the capital to the coastline.
“From there I will get a ferry, hopefully arriving at 2pm tomorrow afternoon local time.”
Amelia’s handbag, which had her purse, phone and bank cards in it, was found on the beach after a party held on Wednesday night. Her passport is still at the hostel, the Nest Beach Club.
It is understood there are no lights from the beach to the Nest Beach Club, which is 40 minutes away.
The area is also thickly forested.
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Amelia’s sister Georgie, 19, is close to her and said Amelia would message the family whenever she had wifi.
She said: "She is strong minded, really sensible and very organised.
"She spent the last year Googling solo female travelling, looking at pages and blogs and sorting out everything.
"I’m just in shock, she has never done anything like this before.
"I spoke to her Wednesday and she normally messages us every now and then, every time she got wifi.
"I told her to put loads of pictures online to see what she was up to.
“It’s horrendous but we need to be positive and she needs to be found.”
Amelia left the UK last month after completing an apprenticeship.
It is her first time travelling on her own.
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Ryan Harris, 18, who was part of the group travelling the Asian country with the 21-year-old, raised the alarm.
Ryan had moved on to another island with plans to link back up with Amelia.
He said: "She was one of the first people I met over here about a week ago.
"I met her in Phnom Penh and we got the boat to Koh Rong, we all spent a few days together and met up with a few other people in a big group.
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"We went on to a neighbouring island but she stayed there with another girl I know who had travelled with us on the boat over.
"I then had to travel back to Koh Rong after leaving my passport at the hostel and when I got there two people told me she had gone missing.
Ryan explained that the hostel held passports to ensure customers paid the bill but Amelia had not gone back for hers.