Foo - what to do when peole just disappear.. Advice please..

We have a nephew and wife who live in Singapore.. They trek all over South East Asia , places such a Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand, VietNam.. He was off to Australia, Thailand, and VietNam for some Christmas travel.. Last we heard from him was November just before he and his wife left..
His land line in Singapore has stopped working.
............. His cell phone does not ring, but messages go directly to some message service. he must have 15 of our messages alone....... He does not respond to emails at his various email sites..
. ....How are cell phone messages received.. ?. The fact the messages are received, does that mean his cell phone is activated..?.... Or, is he paying his cell phone bill.. ?
....He was supposed to come visit us in early January. . He once said he does not like us to do as State Department searches because of something about industrial spying.? But, we are about to.. During the Indian Ocean tsunami he was in Sri Lanka , so we once did just that. But, luckily he was in the Ceylan Highlands..
He has a small number of family left in Oregon.. They have not heard from them over Christmas. Up until recently , they thought his lack of communication normal.. They are getting a little worried also..
Is the state department the only way to track down foreign travelers.. ? We read the governmetn of VietNam sometimes arrests people on trumpt up charges just to sucker legal fees out of Americans on false charges.. Or are their head hunters still in Borneo.. ?.
any advice.. My wife is getting quite worried and about to contact the State Department whether he likes it or not..
The only life contact we have for him is his cell phone number..

Australia, Thailand, and VietNam? Those are some hugely ambitious plans. You and his family know his habits better than we do. It is quite possible that he is OK just out of touch. You could never track him down on your own and I would be surprised if the state dept. could do anything, although they might a list of names of people who have been arrested. Is his a US citizen?

Our answering message comes on immediately if the cell phone is turned off. Like if the battery is dead or something. He may be some place where he cannot charge his phone.

Related: My wife has a niece who left her kids here in the states to go find a boyfriend in south, south, south Mexico somewhere. She went alone. Told her family there is no running water, bathrooms, or electricity in the place - mostly. My father in law is worried that he will have to go search for her and doesn't know where to start. She's kind of a dingbat. Really doesn't have good common sense. You know? Just up and does things and doesn't worry about the consequences or who it effects.

Your nephew may be completely different, though. Really has good insight to things and can get around really well. Or he may be a secret agent. Which is way cooler.

Australia, Thailand, and VietNam? Those are some hugely ambitious plans. You and his family know his habits better than we do. It is quite possible that he is OK just out of touch. You could never track him down on your own and I would be surprised if the state dept. could do anything, although they might a list of names of people who have been arrested. Is his a US citizen?
.....He really has not much family left. A few half brothers/sisters. We are about as close as any. His parents are dead.. ..
He is American. But has lived overseas for almost 20 years....
... . But, he has been out of touch for over a month.. He could not remain in the jungles of Borneo that long..?.. He has an interest in the jungle...
... . Reason , I suspect the State Department can track him down.. Are not the use of passports automatically reported from government to government .. As standard procedure... They must know where and when his passport was last used.. ? He is not the type to tell the State Department he is going into the jungle if he were to...
...

Our answering message comes on immediately if the cell phone is turned off. Like if the battery is dead or something. He may be some place where he cannot charge his phone.

Related: My wife has a niece who left her kids here in the states to go find a boyfriend in south, south, south Mexico somewhere. She went alone.
Your nephew may be completely different, though. Really has good insight to things and can get around really well. Or he may be a secret agent. Which is way cooler.
Guess our hope.. If messages are being recieved to his message taker, that tells us at least he is paying for his cell phone bill.?.. My wife says in one more week( after we return from a trip) ,she will contact the State Department whether he likes it or not..
We had wondered if we should leave the house key under a mat in case he shows for a visit as he had planned...
He also likes PhuKet , Thailand. We've read of multiple kidnappings of Americans from that city.

There's a limited amount the State Department can do. They can check with Passport Control of these nations and help you with missing persons reports in the individual nations or find out if they are in custody. I wouldn't start worrying about kidnap, since there was no ransom demand. (I would see about their bank account activity, though, if you have that information available. Look for large withdrawals or clearing them out.) Another venue is the Red Cross, IIRC.

Don't panic.

No one in Vietnam is kidnapping Americans. I have never heard of anyone being kidnapped in Phuket (I go there 3-4 times a year). Head hunters in Borneo? No.

Can you go off the beaten track in SE Asia? for sure.

Oh and, don't panic.

If you know where he lives, who he works for etc. I may be able to help. pm me.

Excellent advice. :D Local help would be great, CZ.
Don't panic.

No one in Vietnam is kidnapping Americans. I have never heard of anyone being kidnapped in Phuket (I go there 3-4 times a year). Head hunters in Borneo? No.

Can you go off the beaten track in SE Asia? for sure.

Oh and, don't panic.

If you know where he lives, who he works for etc. I may be able to help. pm me.

Yeah, don't panic. Now if you were to say he got lost in the backwoods of the NC mountains, then I would panic with you.

... . But, he has been out of touch for over a month.. He could not remain in the jungles of Borneo that long..?.. He has an interest in the jungle...
... . Reason , I suspect the State Department can track him down.. Are not the use of passports automatically reported from government to government .. As standard procedure... They must know where and when his passport was last used.. ? He is not the type to tell the State Department he is going into the jungle if he were to...
...

Guess our hope.. If messages are being recieved to his message taker, that tells us at least he is paying for his cell phone bill.?..
In all honesty, I don't think a phone would be turned off that quickly for failure to pay, and someone who travels in such places is likely to use automatic bill pay anyway. If it's a messaging service that you're not familiar with, it could be that you're reaching someone else's number. That's still not a reason to worry since he wouldn't use that number anymore if his phone was lost/destroyed/stolen.

However, a month is not long at all, and he could easily hang out anywhere (including the jungle) for that period of time. There are huge areas where there is no cell coverage whatsoever. Do know for a fact that he has memorized all the relevant numbers to call home? Thanks to directories in phones, many people do not know the numbers they call the most. He could be having a great time and just not be able to tell you about it.

There are a zillion reasons why you might not have heard from him that don't involve injury, sickness, arrest, or worse. Don't put too much hope on the State Dept. At best, you may find out what country he is in. My own interactions with them have not given me much of an opinion about their capabilities/competence though my experiences were quite awhile ago. You may give them a shot.

Leave the key under the mat as planned. Concern level would naturally go up if he didn't show, but it would still too early to be super concerned even if he doesn't come.

Don't panic.

No one in Vietnam is kidnapping Americans. I have never heard of anyone being kidnapped in Phuket (I go there 3-4 times a year). Head hunters in Borneo? No.

Can you go off the beaten track in SE Asia? for sure.

Oh and, don't panic.

If you know where he lives, who he works for etc. I may be able to help. pm me.

best advise ever. :thumb:

Is he white?

Thanks everyone.. He is sort of the unthoughtful sort.. So we are not panicking - quite yet. It was just we expected him before our trip nest week , and they might house stay while we are gone.... That was our understanding.....
.. .. He is thinking of, at his wife's request- re-locating back to Spain or Australia....... We understand their things are still in Singapore.. He has his own business , so he can pretty much live where he wants.....
......Thanks Rollin , you'll likely be hearing from me.. When it turns February , we might be panicked...

Rollin probably knows more, but when I visited Thailand it was stressed to not bring or use any type of drugs as the penalties can be more stict. I am not sure of the guys age or if rec drug use is somethign he partakes in, but he may have been arrested for something considered mild in other countries.

No, Vietnam would not doing anything like this, small time police graft but nothing like this. If you were to file a missing persons with authorities, perhaps there is a process where Vietnam, Australia and other countries would be able to tell when they entered and if they exited the country.

No, Vietnam would not doing anything like this, small time police graft but nothing like this. If you were to file a missing persons with authorities, perhaps there is a process where Vietnam, Australia and other countries would be able to tell when they entered and if they exited the country.

Wow, this thread was posted six months ago. I sure hope cyclezealot found his nephew.

Six months late there Velo.
Zealot, did they ever re-appear?

Wow, this thread was posted six months ago. I sure hope cyclezealot found his nephew.

Yeah, as I was reading this I was like "Didn't I read this same exact story months ago?" then I looked at the date. I do hope all turned out well.

Well, this answers the question of what to do when a thread disappears... just bump it!