Shirin Omar, who speaks only Arabic, has been missing with her two young daughters for more than 2 weeks
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Sirin Omar, age 27, and her two daughters Sara, 3 and Nora, 6, have been missing since Saturday 31 March from the Lausanne centre for asylum seekers in Crissier.
The mother, who speaks only Arabic, suffers from psychological problems, say Vaud police.
Her husband waited for their return before contacting police Friday 13 April to report them missing.
The mother is 175cm tall, average build with medium-length dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a 3/4-length black coat and jeans when last seen.
Nora is 115cm tall and was wearing a dark red coat and jeans.
Sara is 100cm tall and was wearing a pink coat and jeans.
Anyone who thinks they have seen the woman and two girls or who has had contact with them is asked to contact the nearest police station or to phone Vaud police at 021 644 4444.
Nora, age 6, missing since 31 March with her mother and sister
Sara, age 3, missing with her sister and mother
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Mizué Bachelard and her seven-year-old daughter who went missing from their home in Chexbres 26 January have been found in southwestern France, thanks to the posters widely distributed along the French autoroutes by French police, according to the Vaud Police office.
A woman who had taken in the pair spotted a poster and contacted police. Mother and daughter are in good condition. Police in canton Vaud have organized for the girl to be returned to her father, in accordance with rulings by the cantonal Justice of the Peace and the Office for Child Protection.
Update 10 February: Pair found, now safe. Photos removed to protect family’s privacy
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in two cantons have issued missing persons reports Wednesday 1 February, and they are asking the public for help finding them.
Canton Vaud police say 35-year-old Mizué Bachelard and her 7-year-old daughter Hanaé Noémi disappeared Tuesday evening 31 January from their home in Chexbres.
The mother is “psychologically fragile” say police.
They put out an alert after the mother bought petrol in Bursins, on the A1 autoroute, for her blue Nissan Micra car, Vaud license plates VD 551’987 at 19:40.
She then took money out of a bank cash machine in Versoix and at 09:00 this morning out of a machine in Paris. Mizué Bachelard is 160cm tall, thin and wispy, with chestnut hair (she often wears it tied with a band) and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink pullover, checkered pants or pyjama-style bottoms, and a brown-beige coat.
Her daughter is 120cm tall, thin, with chestnut hair and light blue eyes. She was wearing a red and white striped pullover, dark pants and a blue jacket with a hood.
Police believe the pair may be in Paris.
They ask anyone with information to phone +41 21 644 4444.
Valais youth missing from home since 26 January
Bastien Monnet, 18 years old, has not been seen since the night of 26 January in St Maurice.
Sebastien Monnet, missing from St Maurice
He is 187 cm tall, trim build, dark brown hair cut very short, brown eyes. He was last seen wearing military pants with US Army on them and very large side pockets, a black jacket with hood covered in logos, a black winter jacket with small red and gray motifs and black cloth trainers.
Police in canton Valais are asking anyone with information to contact them at +41 27 326 5656.
LAUSANNE / SION, SWITZERLAND – The family of Ramiz Seljmanovic, age 64, has reported him missing from a psychiatric hospital in Monthey, and police are asking the public to help find him.
Description: 170cm, thin, green eyes, gray hair, clothing: tends to make mistakes in dressing.
He disappeared 22 November from the Malévoz psychiatric hospital in Monthey, about 22:10. Anyone with information is asked to call the police at +41 27 326 5656.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The weekend search for a missing teenager who drowned in Lake Annecy 2 July turned up a grim toll of four bodies by Monday morning, one of which is the missing 15-year-old, who jumped from a pedalo.
Searchers found three other bodies in various states of decomposition: all had been in the water for more than a year, French media report, which will make identification difficult. One body reportedly had identity papers.
There doesn’t appear to be any link between the bodies that were discovered, in an area of about 800 metres around the Impérial hotel. The search used sonar equipment from Strasbourg.
The first body was found Saturday evening, two others Sunday and the fourth Monday morning.
LAUSANANE / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in Vaud say that a 16-year=old who ran away 31 May has returned to the home for adolescents where she had been living. We have removed her photo and other details to respect her privacy.
The Red Cross has created a Family Links web site to connect families after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), working closely with the Japanese Red Cross, has created a Family Links web site to help people who are seeking other family members in the wake of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami north of Tokyo.
The list of those missing, created Friday, had scores of names by Saturday. The ICRC notes on the site that if you do not find the name you are looking for, be sure to return, as names are added continually.
The areas particularly affected are the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Tochigi and Ibaraki, says the ICRC.
“People in Japan and abroad can register on the website to inform their family and friends that they are safe and provide their current contact details, while those looking for people can check the list for information. They can also register the names of missing family members and friends, encouraging them to get in touch,” the Geneva-based organization says.
The service is free and open to everyone. For those who don’t have easy Internet access or who need help using the site, the ICRC suggests contacting the nearest Red Cross office.
Missing persons alert
Missing person: Bernard Rod, Petit Lancy, Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Geneva are asking the public for help in finding Bernard Rod, age 53, who disappeared from his home in Petit Lancy last weekend, 19-20 February. He has been suffering from depression for several months and has tried to take his life in the past.
He is 168 cm tall, weighs 72 kilos, is balding on top with light brown hair on the sides and back. His eyes are blue. He is probably wearing a blue jacket and violet-coloured shirt.
Police ask anyone with information to phone +41 22 427 8111 or to contact the nearest police station.
Breaking news: father and two sons found, safe and healthy, on an autoroute south of Milan, Italy
Ed. note: details to follow
Update 16:50 Zug, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The search has intensified for a local businessman and politician, Erich Zimmerman, and his 7- and 10-year-old sons Lorin and Tim from Neuheim, canton Zug. Lake police, the Swiss army and a military Super Puma helicopter equipped with infra-red search gear Tuesday night joined local police in looking for the family.
Zug police sent out a Schengen alert they said Wednesday morning, to extend the search beyond Swiss borders. Police had received 10 tips by late afternoon Tuesday and were following all leads.
The three left home late Monday in a silver Nissan Note, license plate ZG 9598, to run errands. The mother contacted police at 21:00 when they did not return. At this point, say police, all possibilities, from an accident to kidnapping, are being considered.
The father had not shown any suicidal tendencies and there were no marital problems, police say.
This is the second case in 10 days of missing persons that has involved more than one family member. Police in Vaud continue to lead a three-country search for missing six-year-old twins Alessia and Livia Schepp.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Vevey are asking the public for help in finding 50-year-old Pierre Ecuyer, who was last seen Wednesday morning at 08:30. Ecuyer has a history of depression. He is 180 cm tall, corpulent, has straight, dark, longish hair and a lump on his forehead. Anyone with information is asked to call +41 21 644 4444 or to stop by any police station.
UNHCR calls on countries to stop repatriating Haitians
Red Cross offers advice on burying dead
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The International Red Cross (ICRC) opened a missing person’s site following the Haiti earthquake, Family Links, Wednesday evening 13 January. It has registered 14,000 messages in less than two days, says Robert Zmmerman, deputy head of the ICRC Central Tracing Agency and Protection Division in Geneva. The ICRC is working closely with the Haitian Red Cross Society, as well as several other national societies, to connect those who are missing, or knowledge of them, and their families.
At the moment there are”primarily two users,” Zimmerman told GenevaLunch. “People outside Haiti and those who are able to register, to make themselves known.” But he adds, this is obviously limiting as long as communication lines are down. Many people “won’t be able to register themselves so we have people, our colleagues, who are feeding in information about the injured” or dead as they find it – in hospitals and on the streets in Haiti. “This is being set up right now, on the spot, but we don’t have details yet for how this is going to go. We’re faced with the same communications problems with our own staff.”
People seeking information about persons missing in Haiti are advised to use the Family Links site. The list can be viewed publicly.
Cara, Michael, Myles, Sarah Robinson
Update 08:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Bern confirmed to GenevaLunch early Tuesday 29 December that a body has been found near Wengen, the town from which British tourist Myles Robinson went missing 22 December. They are not yet releasing any details identifying the person, but will be releasing the information late this afternoon, she said. The formal identification takes time, but no further details, including where the body was found, how, by whom, are being given.
An earlier police spokesperson could not yet say if the police investigation has been stepped up to a criminal investigation, noting only that “A large, active search was undertaken but it didn’t turn up any clues indicating criminal activity” in the first days after Robinson went missing.
Robinson, age 23, was returning to his family’s hotel from an evening out in the village centre when he mysteriously disappeared. Wengen is a car-free village perched above the Bernese village of Lauterbrunnen. Its year-round population of about 1,500 swells to 10,000 during the peak Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Related stories, GenevaLunch
Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ed. note: GenevaLunch will be publishing more photos from Myles Robinson’s family, of the 23-year-old who went missing under mysterious circumstances 22 December. We hope these will alert the public and help trigger information that will provide police with some clues.
Myles is British, went to Charterhouse in the UK, followed by Newcastle University. He knows Wengen well.
Background, GenevaLunch
Yannick Glasssey, missing since 18 April 2009
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Valais, at the request of his family, are asking for information from anyone who may have seen Yannick Glassey, born in 1991, 198cm in height, thin, last seen 18 April 2009 at 08:30. He was wearing beige trousers and Ranger type shoes. Anyone with information should phone Valais police at +41 27 326 5656.
