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Fears for British backpacker Grace Taylor after she goes missing in Thailand British backpacker Grace Taylor found in Thailand
(about 5 hours later)
The family of a 21-year-old British backpacker from Dorset who went missing in Thailand last week have appealed for help online to find their daughter. A 21-year-old backpacker from Dorset who was reported missing in Thailand last week has been found.
Grace Taylor went missing on 16 February from Pattaya in east Thailand but later phoned her mother on Monday from Ao Nang, on the west coast and a 500-mile drive away. Grace Taylor disappeared on 16 February from Pattaya in east Thailand but phoned her mother on Monday from Ao Nang, 500 miles away on the west coast.
“She was very stressed and frightened, saying that people were trying to hurt her and were following her and she wanted to come home,” Taylor’s mother, Sam, said in a Facebook post.
Sam Taylor said she calmed down her daughter and booked her a flight to the UK from nearby Krabi airport. She then said her daughter had reached the airport but didn’t catch her flight and had gone missing again.
But a British embassy spokesman told the Guardian that local authorities in Krabi airport had found Taylor on Tuesday. “We are providing consular assistance to the British national and their family,” the spokesman said.
The Thai Khaosod news website reported that when officers found Taylor at a coffee shop at the airport , she walked outside the terminal and blew a whistle, confusing other passengers.
The police official Somphi Kongduang said Taylor told officers she did not need help, the report said.
The Taylor family, from Swanage, had reported their daughter’s disappearance to Dorset police on Sunday.
The Bournemouth Echo newspaper reported that Dorset police had launched an international investigation to find Taylor.
Related: 'Missing' British traveller in Thailand expresses guilt over family distressRelated: 'Missing' British traveller in Thailand expresses guilt over family distress
“She was very stressed and frightened saying that people were trying to hurt her and were following her and she wanted to come home,” Sam Taylor said in a Facebook post. Concerns were raised about Thailand as a tourist destination after two British backpackers were killed in 2014 on Koh Tao island. A court in Thailand convicted two Burmese men for the crime in December last year.
The mother said she calmed Grace down and booked her a flight from nearby Krabi airport. “She apparently reached the airport but didn’t catch her flight and has gone missing again. We are desperately worried, all previous backpacker sightings have reported that she is disorientated and not in a good mental state,” she said. Many British tourists are reported missing in Thailand every year. Jordan Jacobs, who disappeared in December after telling his parents he was being held against his will, was found on a beach “trying to apply for a diving job”, police said.
“Please can I reach out to the backpacker community once again to look out for her and get her safe,” she said, adding a family member had flown out to Thailand.
The Taylor family, from Swanage, had reported their daughter to be missing to the Dorset police on Sunday. Sam Taylor’s Facebook post has been shared nearly 50,000 times.
The local Bournemouth Echo newspaper reported that Dorset police had launched an international investigation to locate Taylor.
A spokesman from the police told the Echo: “We received a call on Sunday morning reporting a missing woman travelling alone in Thailand.
“We are now liaising with Interpol and an investigation is underway.”
A British embassy spokesman told the Guardian that the Foreign Office was providing consular assistance to the family. “We are in touch with local authorities about a British national who is reported to be missing in Thailand,” the spokesman said.
Concerns were raised over Thailand as a British tourist destination after two young backpackers were killed in 2014 on Koh Tao island. A court in Thailand convicted two Burmese men for the crime in December last year.
However, many British tourists are reported missing in Thailand every year. A British traveller, Jordan Jacobs, who disappeared in December after telling his parents he was being held against his will was found on a beach “trying to apply for a diving job,” police said.
Jacobs said he had been “chilling out” and “perhaps having a bit too much fun”.Jacobs said he had been “chilling out” and “perhaps having a bit too much fun”.