More foreign tourists go missing in Nepal
As frequent general strikes and political unrest hit tourism in Nepal, the government's plan to attract one million air travellers this year received yet another setback with reports of two more missing foreign visitors.
Nepal police said a 49-year-old Japanese woman, identified only as Makiko, has been missing from a valley in northern Nepal since Wednesday.
The Japanese national had been staying at Peace Fall hotel near the Gosainkunda lake in Langtang valley, a frozen lake that is considered sacred and is a major pilgrim destination.
Police said the woman had gone out for a walk in the morning and did not come back. A hunt has been launched to locate her.
The Langtang valley, one of the remotest areas in Nepal close to the Tibet border and a favourite trekking circuit, is also the region from where a young American woman, Aubrey Sacco, disappeared last year.
The 23-year-old was last seen April 22, 2010, leaving a small inn known as Lama Hotel on the Langtang trail.
Her family, who conducted an intensive search for her, has still not given up hope that she might be found. This week, they renewed their search for information that could lead to her whereabouts.
Information is also being sought about a missing 19-year-old Lithuanian, Paulius Zavadckis, who went missing in March this year.
The teen had come to Nepal in February to volunteer for a charitable project in the Helambu region. His family says after leaving the project, he sent an email March 7, following which he went out of contact.
The day he sent that last email, the teen was traced to Pokhara city, a popular tourist destination.
In December 2008, a 32-year-old British tourist, Julian Wynne, disappeared while trekking in the Everest region.
In 2005, speculation arose about a possible serial killer preying on young women travelling alone in Nepal, after a French and German tourist went missing from a protected national park close to Kathmandu.
The body of the missing German, Sabine Grueneklee, was found in the Nagarjuna park in 2006 and nine months later, the remains of the French tourist, Celine Henry, were also found in the same area.
