Found Deceased Cambodia - Amelia Bambridge, 21, UK backpacker, Koh Rong, 23 Oct 2019

[Rosiebones]

Missing Amelia Bambridge, 21, is likely to have drowned, Cambodian official claims | Daily Mail Online
It doesn't make sense to me that she would climb down and wade over to that rock, leave her back pack and slide down the rock to go swimming, because she wouldn't have been able to come out of the water and climb back up the rock very easily.
Also, just a few steps further down the beach is a very shallow walk into the ocean. Why wouldn't she just do that? It was suggested earlier in this thread that the back pack looked to have been placed there to lead people in the wrong direction. It seems to have worked with that official anyway.
Also, she could have gone back to her hostel, gone swimming, taken a shower and gone to bed instead of making her way back all wet and sandy.

 

[Lass from Yorkshire]

Do they have sniffer dogs over there?


She is travelling alone. i fail to see where i wrote women should not go out at any point in that. I said i warn my daughter of dangers so she is aware. Im a woman myself so lets not jump to quick ay

It was more about the message you had quoted and agreed with - my post missed that bit out unfortunately.

 

[JerseyGirl]

How long has Amelia backpacked before she went missing on the island in Cambodia?

I'm a mom of a backpacker, it hurts me when I read stories but realize that, after the death of UK backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand, murders can occur anywhere.
__

My daughter, at around Amelia's age, decided to solo backpack for the first time the summer after graduating college, she flew from the US to the UK for $99, then meandered her way stopping in various countries to Greece. Once she reached Greece via Slovenia by air, she decided to head north on an overnight bus to Albania, then stop a few days in Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia. I was a wreck, worried about her every night. She got through it fine and finished her trip, and told me that Bosnia and war-torn Mostar was her favorite country of all. All I can think of is the 1990s Bosnia, but she loved the culture and history.

She then did the fall semester abroad for her master's degree in Austria, told me she would be going to Poland for a few days, ok fine, but once she got to Krakow and toured the city, she decided to go to Lviv in the Ukraine and I was wreck worrying about her crossing the border and being in a country at war. Nope, she was fine.

She then decided to take the 5 weeks over Christmas and solo backpack to Thailand. All I kept thinking about were the deaths of tourists on the islands, but she got through it, traveled from Chiang Mai all the way down to the islands to Koh Lanta, back up through the islands to Bangkok.

This holiday, she has about 5 weeks off and was planning to backpack Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia but changed her mind and has decided on the islands of the Philippines and up to the northern Batad rice fields. Internet is non-existent, so here I go again.

 

[Mrs Marple]

Missing backpacker Amelia Bambridge's father combs through CCTV: 'I think someone's taken her'

As various groups trampled through the thick vegetation, hoping that Amelia has stumbled off the path and got lost, her family combed through hours of CCTV trying to piece together her last known movements.

As we watch the grainy images on a large TV screen, her father, Phil Bambridge, points her out heading to the party with a small group of friends just before 2am

He said: "We were getting conflicting times of when she got there. I don't think she's in the sea, I think she's inland somewhere.

"I think someone's taken her. I don't think she's had an accident, if she'd had an accident she would have been found."

 

[HayLouise]

Female ‘Gap Year’ student traveling alone disappears in Cambodia

 

[Mrs Marple]

Missing Amelia Bambridge, 21, is likely to have drowned, Cambodian official claims | Daily Mail Online
It doesn't make sense to me that she would climb down and wade over to that rock, leave her back pack and slide down the rock to go swimming, because she wouldn't have been able to come out of the water and climb back up the rock very easily.
Also, just a few steps further down the beach is a very shallow walk into the ocean. Why wouldn't she just do that? It was suggested earlier in this thread that the back pack looked to have been placed there to lead people in the wrong direction. It seems to have worked with that official anyway.
Also, she could have gone back to her hostel, gone swimming, taken a shower and gone to bed instead of making her way back all wet and sandy.

Here we go again....

 

[JerseyGirl]

Maybe it was low tide when she put that watch and backpack on the rock?

 

[Rosiebones]

Here we go again....

Are you referencing the point of view of the official that she must have drowned? This would be a protective point of view to the support of the tourist industry. Or am I missing something?

 

[Mrs Marple]

Are you referencing the point of view of the official that she must have drowned? This would be a protective point of view to the support of the tourist industry. Or am I missing something?

Yes l am and no you're not missing anything. I was reading about tourists going missing in SE Asia last night and 'Nothing to see here!' is a standard response

 

[Rosiebones]

Maybe it was low tide when she put that watch and backpack on the rock?

I looked over the pictures of her from Police beach to see if I could see if she had her watch on then but the pictures were not clear enough. If she did have it on at the party, then finding it in her bag on the rock bolsters the idea that she went into the water voluntarily to cool off.

 

[Hjp]

Agree with the father, she is not in the sea and likely to be somewhere on the island.

If she had drowned in the sea while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs she would have to be a fair distance out from the shoreline, where she would have to had lost footing. If hot, she simply would not have gone in that deep just to cool off for a quick dip.

Bodies that drown usually sink in suspension at first as the lungs fill with water, but as soon as decomposition begins, (which would happen quickly in warm seawater), gases start to fill the body, it becomes more buoyant, it becomes lighter, and would start to float back to the surface.

If she died on Wednesday morning, then that was nearly six days ago and she would have been spotted either floating in the water nearby, (in similar fashion to Libby Squire), or washed ashore.

The gulf of Thailand experiences weak tides and currents as it is a shallow gulf and is bordered by land on three sides at that location. There is no way she has been swept out to sea.

It is time for the Cambodian authorities to get real and begin to wind down the sea searches. To her family, the sleuths, and the public at large:- this will look like a concerted effort to prioritise the tourist industry ahead of the welfare of a missing tourist. The longer it takes to find her the more difficult it will be to piece together what exactly happened.

 

[otto]

A British backpacker who went missing five days ago on an island in Cambodia may have drowned, an official has said, as speedboats and divers are brought in to help with the search.

Amelia Bambridge, 21, was last seen at a beach party late Wednesday night on the island of Koh Rong before her bag with her phone, money and credit cards inside was found the following morning.

Chhoeun Chantha, commune chief of Koh Rong, said that he fears Miss Bambridge drowned because the bag and her watch was found on a rock by the ocean.

Missing Amelia Bambridge, 21, is likely to have drowned, Cambodian official claims | Daily Mail Online

If she was going for a swim, she would have left some clothing with her backpack. I think the back pack was put on the rock to give the impression that she went into the water.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Bless you, JerseyGirl, it must be a worry wherever she is. I know you know that millions of "kids" do these well worn trails all over Europe and Asia, but I'm sure it's hard remaining relaxed about her whereabouts with all the horrors we hear on here. Amazing experiences for her though, and I hope she keeps it up, I definitely want my children to have the wanderlust I have.

By the way, Laos is one of my favourite countries in the world, I had so much fun there and the people (despite being poor and living in the most bombed country in the world thanks America!!) were the friendliest I met on my travels. A friend said that Laos was like sinking into your favourite comfy armchair after a long day, and I couldn't say it better myself. So tell your daughter to keep it on her list!

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I don't know about everyone else but I'd feel really wary about going in the sea at night, especially on my own! Any body of water would creep me out in the dark I think. Do we know if that area was lit at all, by lights or by the moon?

 

[otto]

I don't know about everyone else but I'd feel really wary about going in the sea at night, especially on my own! Any body of water would creep me out in the dark I think. Do we know if that area was lit at all, by lights or by the moon?

I'm not even convinced that the backpack was found on the rocks. I agree with others who believe that protecting tourism is a priority for locals, and that they may be manipulating the situation from the beginning to support an accidental death theory. Katherine, who was murdered in 2013, was labelled an accidental death for a couple of weeks until eyewitnesses revealed that her throat was slashed.

If Amelia wanted to swim, her shoes, some clothing and her belongings would all be together on the beach, not on a rock. The backpack on the rock seems like an invitation to find the backpack and draw a conclusion that she drowned.

 

[Wowno17]

Sky News on Twitter

The bag she is using in this video does not look like the backpack that was found?!

What do you guys think?

 

[Hjp]

I don't know about everyone else but I'd feel really wary about going in the sea at night, especially on my own! Any body of water would creep me out in the dark I think. Do we know if that area was lit at all, by lights or by the moon?

Here is the link to the moon times and phases in S Cambodia on the 23rd October. The moon rose above the horizon at 1.00am giving only a limited 33.6% nightime illumination.

There was scattered clouds that night so any effect would have likely have been limited and intermittent.

Here is the link
Moonrise, Moonset, and Moon Phase in Sihanoukville

 

[jaejae]

Sky News on Twitter

The bag she is using in this video does not look like the backpack that was found?!

What do you guys think?

Here is a Sky News report associated with the above Tweet:

Missing backpacker Amelia Bambridge rang sister shortly before disappearance - and was having 'best time'

Here is a BBC report about the case:

Family joins Cambodia search for UK backpackerFamily joins Cambodia search for UK backpacker

 

[katyy]

How long has Amelia backpacked before she went missing on the island in Cambodia?

I'm a mom of a backpacker, it hurts me when I read stories but realize that, after the death of UK backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand, murders can occur anywhere.
__

My daughter, at around Amelia's age, decided to solo backpack for the first time the summer after graduating college, she flew from the US to the UK for $99, then meandered her way stopping in various countries to Greece. Once she reached Greece via Slovenia by air, she decided to head north on an overnight bus to Albania, then stop a few days in Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia. I was a wreck, worried about her every night. She got through it fine and finished her trip, and told me that Bosnia and war-torn Mostar was her favorite country of all. All I can think of is the 1990s Bosnia, but she loved the culture and history.

She then did the fall semester abroad for her master's degree in Austria, told me she would be going to Poland for a few days, ok fine, but once she got to Krakow and toured the city, she decided to go to Lviv in the Ukraine and I was wreck worrying about her crossing the border and being in a country at war. Nope, she was fine.

She then decided to take the 5 weeks over Christmas and solo backpack to Thailand. All I kept thinking about were the deaths of tourists on the islands, but she got through it, traveled from Chiang Mai all the way down to the islands to Koh Lanta, back up through the islands to Bangkok.

This holiday, she has about 5 weeks off and was planning to backpack Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia but changed her mind and has decided on the islands of the Philippines and up to the northern Batad rice fields. Internet is non-existent, so here I go again.

I'm quite a well-travelled young female and people are always surprised when I say that Thailand and Cambodia are 2 countries I don't feel safe visiting. However, of the developing countries I have visited, The Philippines is top of my list for where I have felt the most safe and I would 100% recommend it. I hope that eases your worries somewhat!

 

[Rosiebones]

What is the relationship of the local people with the police? Would they be likely to protect a friend or family member from the police and tourists, or is there a spirit of cooperation with LE in a case like this?