Nicole still missing in Syria

Family and friends world wide are still wondering what happened to Nicole Vienneau two years after mysteriously disappearing in Syria on March 31^st 2007. This weekend Nicole's mother travels again to Damascus to search for her missing daughter. The two million Syrian pound reward still stands. As yet there is no body, no scent, no witness and no leads. Nicole was last seen by staff at the Cairo Hotel in Hama. She never returned and hasn’t been seen since. No emails have been sent from her accounts, no contacts to friends or family and no sightings. She left behind her travel journal and photos.

When she didn’t return to her hotel room political police were called to search her belongings as she was deemed a possible threat as it was thought she had possibly disappeared underground. This was found not to be the case. She is not a political suspect. Sadly criminal police were not called at the time by the hotel as there was no sign of a crime. Nicole is the first person in Syria to be a foreigner, unaccounted for and missing. Guide books such as the Lonely Planet, now mention her disappearance as a warning to others travelling there alone. On March 31^st 2007, a hotel clerk said she planned to visit Qasr Ibn Wardan in the desert.

Strangely she left behind her handwritten instructions in her guidebook for directions to that Bedouin area. Nicole was a seasoned & organised traveller. It seems most unlikely she would have left this behind to go to a remote location.

To date most of the questioning and searching has been carried out by her Mother, Brother and fiancée See interview footage Video news )

Her brother, has kept a detailed web diary of his work in trying to trace her Live Journal . Canadian police were not allowed to participate. Today her mother is back in Damascus trying to find some closure on what happened.

On the days leading to her disappearance many people saw Nicole but on the date of March 31^st onwards no one saw her at all. In a country where women dress conservatively and in traditional Muslim dress, Nicole, as a Western tourist, would have been quite noticeable. No one, save the hotel clerk, saw her from 8.30 that morning.

On the 31^st March only one man registered to visit Qasr Ibn Wardan. In Arabic, he wrote, his name as Amin Ben Yahia امين بن يحيى. He had an Algerian passport, born 1984, parents Abba and Monica. Believed to be connected to Switzerland (or even Germany). Gatekeeper recalls him as being Swiss. He has not come forward. Coincidentally on March 17, 2007 Nicole logged that she had a dinner date with a Swiss man in Damascus, her only dinner date logged.

We are most grateful for all the help around the world online who have tried to help find Nicole, particularly Syrian News for blogging about the story in 2007 and again this weekend, two years later.

Please use any form of online international communication you can to highlight this story and communicate with her family via the webpage dedicated to her story Find Nicole Vienneau

An ancient Bedouin saying states, “The way to keep a trail alive is to walk on it.”