Search for missing German tourist ongoing, says Seychelles police

Logo of the Seychelles police. (Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - The search continues for a 65-year-old German national reported missing in Seychelles, a police official said on Thursday.

Gunter Lamprecht of Munich was reported missing on May 4 – the day he was supposed to leave the 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.

According to a police spokesperson, Jean Toussaint, Lamprecht arrived in the country on April 22. He was holidaying at the Berjaya Praslin Beach Hotel, on the Seychelles second-largest island, Praslin.

“According to information gathered through our investigation, he was last seen leaving with a towel. It could only be assumed that he may have left for the beach or a walk,” Toussaint said to SNA by email.

Lamprecht was reported missing by the hotel where he had been staying after all of his personal belongings including passport were found on the day he was expected to have left for the main island Mahé, for his return flight to Germany.

Photo of Gunter Lamprecht, tourist from Munich, Germany reported missing in Seychelles. (Matthias Ambiel/Facebook) Photo License: CC-BY

Toussaint has said that the police launched a search party on Praslin right after receiving the missing person report and opened an investigation into his disappearance.

“The police have received no sighting reports of the missing German national,” said Toussaint.

He added that the initial search focused on the beaches and along coastal areas of Praslin as well as on nature trails and that this has now been shifted to other parts of the island.

One of Lamprecht’s relatives, Matthias Ambriel, took to social media over the weekend in an attempt to gather any information on his whereabouts and spread the word about his disappearance.

“We are missing our father and grandpa at Praslin or La Digue since end of April and beginning of May 2016,” wrote Ambriel in the post shared on Facebook.

He described his relative as being “1,78 cm tall, skinny and very friendly” and urged anyone with information to come forward.

“We would be very thankful for every kind of information - if anybody talked to him during his stay, got to know him or simply saw a man like him - any kind of hint can probably help to find him,” he said.

Toussaint has confirmed that a daughter of Gunter Lamprecht is presently in Seychelles to follow the case.