Posted by somtam2000 on 15/1/2013 at 04:48 admin

We received the following just now by email:





Tscherina Nora Janisch (22) from Switzerland is travelling in various countries since August. She entered Thailand in the beginning of December and hasn't been heard from since December 22, 2012.







She is travelling alone, staying mainly in Backpacker Lodges or Couchsurfing. Usually, she informs her family on a weekly basis.



Anyway to contact her (phone, e-mail, facebook, skype) has failed.



Have you seen her or do you know anything?



If so, please contact either Stephanie Kuhn at stephanie.kuhn @ member-ssth.ch or her mother directly at e.janisch @ bluewin.ch.



Please spread the word. #1 somtam2000 has been a member since 21/1/2004. Location: Indonesia. Posts: 8,058













Posted by exacto on 16/1/2013 at 11:52

somtam,



i get an Error 404: page not found message when i follow the link. is there any chance you or corinne can repost an updated link?



i can take a shot at translating it, but i'll bet MADMAC will do a better job than i could if he's available. regards. #3 exacto has been a member since 12/2/2006. Location: United States. Posts: 2,808



Posted by MADMAC on 16/1/2013 at 12:00

Exacto

This is a error message. Like English language error messages it explains that it couldn't take you to the link and what options you have available to you to find the link you want. The best advice from it was to try finding another link via search engine. #4 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by MADMAC on 16/1/2013 at 12:04

Funny I did a search in the in Germany and found nothing in the news. Strange. #5 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by exacto on 16/1/2013 at 12:05

right. i hoped that somtam or the op might have a corrected link. i'd try to use a search engine to find the same or a similar article as you suggest, but unfortunately my crappy american high school-taught german isn't good enough for that. would you mind giving it a shot?



okay. i see that you already did. thanks for trying. regards. #6 exacto has been a member since 12/2/2006. Location: United States. Posts: 2,808



Posted by MADMAC on 16/1/2013 at 12:06

My search was done wrong. But I redid it and get exactly one link from a Swiss site and it doesn't work - same problem exacto was having. #7 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by freiburger on 16/1/2013 at 13:05

It was working for me this afternoon. I had a look at the site around 3 PM CET. But there was only a short news about the girl missing. No details, nothing.



Dont even know if this is real. All news I googeled in the afternoon were linked either to the swiss newspaper or to this forum.



Not mentioned if the parents informed the police. If I remember right, the poor girl did not call their parents for about 2 or 3 weeks now. Well, she is backpacking. I remember that I once had no possibility for about 1 week to access internet and my parents and friends paniced too. In good old times parents were happy to get a picture post card once a month.



But there seems to be a Brit missing in Bangkok, which sounded more seriously, because he really disappeared with a strange message a day before. Never seen after and police is searching for him.



This storry sounds a little strange to me, no information, no police, no nothing #8 freiburger has been a member since 27/12/2012. Posts: 127

Posted by exacto on 16/1/2013 at 19:51

Okay, well even I could read the article in that link, and it only gave essentially the same information somtam included in the original post in this thread. Thanks.



I don't know. I remember in the old days when getting a message back home could be a difficult task, but I can't think of anywhere I've been lately in Thailand that didn't have fairly easy telephone or internet access. Since December 22 is a long time. No Christmas or New Year's greetings, for example... #10 exacto has been a member since 12/2/2006. Location: United States. Posts: 2,808



Posted by x_brain on 16/1/2013 at 20:00

ich habe soeben im FacebookForum der Chulalongkorn Universitaet diese nachricht ueber nora gesehen. Dass sie aus der Schweiz kommt und in Singapur war waren genau die Daten, die mir noch im kopf waren!Auch ihr bild habe ich wiedererkannt.

wir (2m, 2w, davon 3 geschwister) waren ueber Weihnachten in Koh Tao. Am 23.12.2012 gegen Abend haben wir Nora an einem Pancake-stand getroffen (Had Sai Ree Beach).

Sie hat uns angesprochen und erzaehlt, dass ihr Visum ausgelaufen war. (Ihre Freunde sind nach Chiang Mai gefahren)

(Weil sie bei Einreise nach Thailand nur 15 Tage Visum genehmigt bekommen hat; beim Luftweg wÃ¤ren es 30 Tage)

Deswegen wollte sie am noch am selben Abend los zu einem "Visa-Run" nach Birma.



Sie war etwas niedergeschlagen, dass sie ausgerechnet an Weihnachten den Visa-run durchfÃ¼hren muss und hat mehrmals gesagt, dass sie es nicht glauben kann, dass sie das mit dem Visum nicht gewusst hat.

Wir haben ihr gut zugesprochen und gemeint, dass schon alles passen wird. Dann haben wir uns verabschiedet weil wir weiter zum Strand zum Essen wollten. #11 x_brain has been a member since 16/1/2013. Posts: 1

Posted by eastwest on 16/1/2013 at 20:59

Brief simple translation/summary of the above in order to help. This is a good lead.



3 sisters met this woman on Ko Tao on the evening of december 23rd. Nora addressed them and spoke about her visa that would run out. Her friends had gone off to Chiang Mai. Upon entering Thailand she had only a 15 day visa and she told the sisters that she was going to do a visa run to Birma/Myanmar.

She was a little down because she had to do this just before/during christmas and she told several times that she couldn't believe that she had overlooked that mistake of having only a 15 day visa.

The sisters had a good chat with her and left in the believe that everything would be alright.



Now, it seems that this puts a good location on her and perhaps the Thailand experts here can tell which border crossing with Myanmar is closest to Ko Tao where she would make that attempt and the search can probably start by contacting authorities and check whether she has attempted to do the visa run there.



Good luck #12 eastwest has been a member since 17/12/2009. Posts: 778

Posted by somtam2000 on 16/1/2013 at 21:33 admin

Thanks for the translation @eastwest - it makes a lot more sense than Google Translate!



From Ko Tao most tourists to a border run to the Burma crossing (as suggested above) so perhaps family could check with Thai immigration about stamp in/out.



Anyways, have passed this link back to the person who contacted us initially.



Thanks all. #13 somtam2000 has been a member since 21/1/2004. Location: Indonesia. Posts: 8,058













Posted by MADMAC on 17/1/2013 at 00:48

Hopefully she didn't cross into Burma and not return. Getting good information out of Burma might be trickier than if she's in Thailand. Still, three weeks is a while. You got to wonder what would keep her incommunicado for that length of time? Got sick and is in a hospital with no communications access? Seems unlikely. #14 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by altmtl on 17/1/2013 at 05:33

See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-21027103 - another missing person in Thailand? #15 altmtl has been a member since 18/5/2009. Location: Canada. Posts: 1,003







Posted by DLuek on 19/1/2013 at 05:33 TF writer

Just noticed this thread...



From Ko Tao the easiest place to leave and re-enter Thailand to get 15 more days would have to be Ranong . In that case she would have most likely gone over to Burma for an hour or two and then come back. It makes me think of little Ko Chang and Ko Phayam, which are accessible from Ranong. Those are remote islands with very little in the way of internet and phone service - very easy places to just forget the world. Of course, in that case she would have had to go back to Burma after the first 15 days were up to stay legal.



Still, might be worth checking with Thai immigration at Ranong and Burmese immigration on the other side, and then perhaps checking with resorts on Ko Chang Noi and Ko Phayam. #17 DLuek has been a member since 19/6/2008. Location: Thailand. Posts: 1,344





Posted by altmtl on 19/1/2013 at 06:36

FB Page - https://www.facebook.com/AchtungVermisstWichtig #18 altmtl has been a member since 18/5/2009. Location: Canada. Posts: 1,003







Posted by MADMAC on 19/1/2013 at 08:47

This was posted yesterday in the facebook account. I can not verify it's veracity:



GOOD LUCK:

She's alive and went on the Swiss embassy!! #19 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by somtam2000 on 19/1/2013 at 09:19 admin

Thanks Mac have emailed them for confirmation & will post when I heard back.



Cheers #20 somtam2000 has been a member since 21/1/2004. Location: Indonesia. Posts: 8,058













Posted by busylizzy on 19/1/2013 at 15:46

Somtam - not sure who you are following up with, but on the facebook page linked above, there is a post on 16 Jan: ".....Please mail factual information directly to me, her mother. My email address is e.janisch@bluewin.ch. Thank you for your support, mentally and count on your diligence regarding privacy protection. Lisa Janisch".



(This was before the post about her reporting to the embassy). #21 busylizzy has been a member since 31/12/2007. Location: New Zealand. Posts: 2,152



Posted by somtam2000 on 19/1/2013 at 18:51 admin

Yeah I'm not dealing with the mother, was a friend of the family that first got in touch - so figure Mum has enough on plate without me contacting her as well. Just waiting to hear back. #22 somtam2000 has been a member since 21/1/2004. Location: Indonesia. Posts: 8,058













Posted by altmtl on 20/1/2013 at 19:09

Still a mystery... http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Edvantage/Story/A1Story20130119-396611.html - Where was she? How how do you explain the lack of contact?



P.S. having trouble with the link function. #23 altmtl has been a member since 18/5/2009. Location: Canada. Posts: 1,003







Posted by MADMAC on 20/1/2013 at 20:24

There was a number of weird elements to this. In the facebook link there was a harping on "respecting privacy". I didn't get that, as I would not want privacy, I would want maximum coverage to get the word out as wide as possible. Then she (maybe) shows up at the Swiss embassy almost a month after nobody had heard a thing from her. Why the embassy. She obviously got into some sort of trouble... But hopefully she really did show up at the embassy and isn't dead. That's a plus as these kinds of missing persons stories usually don't end well. Like that kid missing in Laos... #24 MADMAC has been a member since 6/6/2009. Posts: 6,957

Posted by cosicosa on 21/1/2013 at 03:02

As Madmac mentions: weird...

I hope she really got in contact with the embassy and is out of troubles!



Let's keep fingers crossed #25 cosicosa has been a member since 16/1/2013. Posts: 2

Posted by busylizzy on 21/1/2013 at 03:32

My thoughts on the whole privacy thing is that perhaps she is known to suffer some pyschological disorder - and perhaps without meds, she may have started reacting unpredictably. In that case, maybe the family didn't want that side of the story leaking out. It's one theory anyhow - but who knows? I guess the problem is that the less they tell you, the more people speculate. #26 busylizzy has been a member since 31/12/2007. Location: New Zealand. Posts: 2,152



Posted by freiburger on 21/1/2013 at 05:32

well, case closed.



Another "teenager" who forgot to call home in time.



Instead of putting my private life and pics on facebook and all around, I would have informed the police. I would go crazy if my parents would post my pictures in the whole universe :-)



So happy end in the end. #27 freiburger has been a member since 27/12/2012. Posts: 127

Posted by altmtl on 21/1/2013 at 05:36

Meanwhile, maybe dozens/hundreds of solo female travellers and their worried parents were freaking out about their trip to Thailand and worried they may be abducted. maybe she did get into trouble, was raped, escaped - who knows. Making all these pleas on the internet and then not following up is strange. Posting these things has an impact on the travel community - there should be an explanation given. #28 altmtl has been a member since 18/5/2009. Location: Canada. Posts: 1,003







Posted by benjamin4450 on 22/1/2013 at 02:46

today the swiss embassy in bangkok will help her out from

some case in jail at the east of thailand called

(ranong province) it was the news on television,

at least every one are happy. #29 benjamin4450 has been a member since 22/1/2013. Posts: 1

Posted by somtam2000 on 22/1/2013 at 19:23 admin

Ok, we've been contacted by a representative of the family who has confirmed she is alive. They've also asked that we delete this thread.



They say in part:



"We know where Tscherina is now, we haven't spoken to her in person, but we know she lives. Unfortunately, I can not tell you anything more until she is "safe and sound" in Switzerland, which might take a while. Her mother sais thank you as well, all your help ment a lot to her family."



Given that the main point of the thread was helping to find her and make sure she was alive, as that has been achieved, I'm going to lock off this thread and will delete it at the end of the month.



From what I understand (between what the family representative has said and reports in the Thai media), she was never abducted nor in any danger.



Given she is alive, I think the actual circumstances of why she didn't contact her family should remain a private matter between Tscherina, her family and the Thai authorities.



Thanks all #30 somtam2000 has been a member since 21/1/2004. Location: Indonesia. Posts: 8,058













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