Australian man Nathan Hansford missing in Thailand

[webfact]

Canberra man Nathan Hansford missing in Thailand
Henry Belot
Reporter


Missing ... Nathan Hansford. Photo: Supplied

BANGKOK: -- A 36-year-old Canberra man living in Thailand has been declared missing by his Australian family amid growing concerns for his well-being.

Nathan Hansford, who has worked in Bangkok for 10 years as an international contractor specialising in public finance and capital market development, has not been in contact with family and friends since Christmas.

His family said he regularly travelled internationally for work assignments but had always kept in regular contact with his Australian family and friends throughout his travels.

They said his mobile phone had been disconnected and he had not been using his email or social media accounts.

In a statement, the family said it "hopes that Nathan is oblivious to a search across Thailand for him and that he is ‘lying on a beach taking a holiday’."

"This situation is out of character and the family holds grave concerns for his whereabouts," they said.

Mr Hansford was last seen leaving his home in the gated suburb of Thungkru on January 31 to travel in a taxi to Mo Chit in central Bangkok.

Full story: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-man-nathan-hansford-missing-in-thailand-20140303-33vrj.html

-- The Canberra Times 2014-03-03

[chooka]

For someone who has been living in Thailand for 10 yrs and always maintained contact this does seem a little strange, lets just hope he is found in good health

[noitom]

Good luck to his family searching in Thailand.

[whybother]

A link to a photo of him on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152307793062533&set=a.10150095351317533.300609.705222532&type=1

His LinkedIn page:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nathan-hansford/8/4/263

[mrtoad]

Hope he turns up safe and well

[Tep]

I worked with Nathan in Afghanistan 2006/2007 where he was Chief Financial Officer of the Ministry of Energy and Water. He then worked in Iraq, out of Basra, which at the time was perilous. He is a debt management/treasury specialist and I am infrastructure but we continued to interact on projects where our fields crossed. He worked on a project for the Public Debt Management Office at MOF Thailand and most recently did a significant project at the Cambodia Ministry of Finance. He was quite young to be an international consultant but had good grounding at the Department of Finance in Australia and was developing a consulting practice in his field of expertise regionally. I remember in Afghanistan that he was the one I always went to for up to date information. Our offices were nearby (in a pretty crappy bombed out building) and he was good to chat to but he was also close to the Minister (being involved in the money management for MEW), so he always knew more about the security situation, day by day, than the UN security guys that we were forced to listen to. Mostly we met in the office occupied by the Germans because they had a fridge and coffee maker.

It is very disturbing news and I know mutual friends who are work colleagues of Nathan are concerned. In the faint hope that circulating this news may assist in answering the question about what happened, I do hope that this type of posting can assist, although they are faint hopes. I hope for a positive outcome.

[Rimmer]

An inflammatory post and the troll posts leading up to it have been removed.

[PepperMe]

Has not opened any of his emails or accessed his social media accounts since December?

This is very worrying and not at all a good sign.

Please don't get me wrong, and I do not want to be associated with starting suspicious rumours, but TEP you mentioned he had recently worked on a project for the Public Debt Management Office and the Ministry of Finance? This wouldn't be connected to the rice pledging scheme would it?

Just saying... Because I bet there is (and has been) a hell of a lot of 'track covering' and erasing of certain things associated with that huge government scandal over the past few months.

Edited March 3, 2014 by PepperMe

[Prbkk]

keep an eye out for him...

[car720]

mmmmmm...........has anyone spoken to ASIO? or ASIS?

[Tep]

Has not opened any of his emails or accessed his social media accounts since December?

This is very worrying and not at all a good sign.

Please don't get me wrong, and I do not want to be associated with starting suspicious rumours, but TEP you mentioned he had recently worked on a project for the Public Debt Management Office and the Ministry of Finance? This wouldn't be connected to the rice pledging scheme would it?

Just saying... Because I bet there is (and has been) a hell of a lot of 'track covering' and erasing of certain things associated with that huge government scandal over the past few months.

Nathan worked with PDMO in 2009. By that time I had left the Ministry of Finance and moved to work for the new energy regulator here. Nathan's work was on capital market development, specifically working on a bond investment fund. It was funded by the Asian Development Bank. Thailand stopped borrowing from ADB around 2002 but ADB still provide some technical assistance funds for capital market development and public private partnership work.

It has been a few years since I worked at MOF. From my knowledge, the PDMO would not be involved in the rice program, at least as a lead agency. They take care of the domestic bond issuance and international borrowing. They would be involved if the government needed to raise funds for the scheme but not at a policy level I think. Probably the key department would be the Comptroller General's Office (CGD) which is like the governments arm that keeps track of receipts, expenditures and accounts. My first boss at what became the State Enterprise Policy Office was Ms. Supa Piyajitti who moved on to become DG of CGD and was recently removed as Chair of the Rice Scheme Investigative Committee at MOF for revealing some truths about the scheme. She was a quite forthright and bluntly spoken person who quite rigorously defended the MOF and the financial interests of the country. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Probe-into-rice-claim-30209847.html

Nathan was based in Bangkok and worked in the region, apart from that one PDMO project. He had bought a house here recently (within the past couple of years) So his issues here were more domestic and personal rather than professional. I hope these issues did not contribute to what has happened. Quite pointless to speculate and I hope his family and those investigating the circumstances can get some answers.

[SOTIRIOS]

...he does not strike me as the irresponsible type at all.....

...we're talking 2 months...???

...it sounds very bad....

[HUAHIN62]

Sounds out of character for him not to contact his family between December (last contact) and end January when he was last seen. Hope your ok mate.

[bbbbooboo]

hmmmm......maybe he just found a good woman. But have to admit the circumstances are strange

[LindsayBKK]

Tara has been notified of Thaivisa post. For those members on Twitter more at #findnathan

[mialouis]

my friend has a bar in bkk. sent him photo,

[weegee]

I dont want to state outright that i have seen him , BUT, I spoke with a face very simular to that in MAKRO, Hatyai about 2 weeks ago...

The person I spoke with was podgy and a little weighty, If I remember correctly he had a slight N.Z accent....

He was with a Thai woman and they were buying something to refine Honey with....maybe this isnt the man they are looking for, but it's weirdly close.

Please post a complete Photo of the person or contact me.

[weegee]

Update....My Wife has just confirmed after seeing the Photo of him....and we are pretty definite thats the same guy...

She said it was more than 2 weeks ago, and is checking receipts to get the same day we were there and talked to him briefly.

OK....... it was on 3rd February....

If the family wish, I am only too happy to offer help......I dont use facebook, so contact me through Thai Visa Forum

Edited March 4, 2014 by weegee

[LindsayBKK]

I will Tweet Tara, she is arriving BKK tonight Thnx

[findnathan]

Update....My Wife has just confirmed after seeing the Photo of him....and we are pretty definite thats the same guy...

She said it was more than 2 weeks ago, and is checking receipts to get the same day we were there and talked to him briefly.

OK....... it was on 3rd February....

If the family wish, I am only too happy to offer help......I dont use facebook, so contact me through Thai Visa Forum

Hello! I am Tara from @In_the_Taratory - the account which LindsayBKK is referring to. I am Nathan's sister-in-law. Your description in your earlier post and this post sounds right. Thank you so much for getting in touch. Nathan's sister Megan arrives in Bangkok tonight so if you could give me as much information as possible as soon as you can that would help hugely.

Can you please e-mail me at [email protected] with everything you know, including:

- where you last saw him (as much detail as possible please)

- what time did you see him on 3 February

- what he was wearing

- what he said to you

- where was he staying (I know you might not know this)

- where was he planning to go (I know you might not know this)

- what exactly was he buying

- who was he with, any description about them hugely appreciated if you don't have any knowledge about who it might have been

Thank you so, so much. I really appreciate this.

Thanks also to all the other people who have commented and helped to spread the word. It means a lot to us.

[Polanskiman]

Perhaps this has been done already but the Australian Embassy should be informed ASAP. I live close to it. Anything I can do please let me know.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Polanskiman

[andid]

Tara,

I have asked on Facebook and also via a message to Megan.....can someone provide us with the name of Nathans wife and where in Thailand she is from? This would narrow down any search. It would also make people who may know the area or someone in the lady's family pay attention. Social media may be more useful then also.....

Is his wife also missing? The newspaper in Australia did not mention this at all (just that he is married to a Thai).

Was there any fight within the family back in Australia that may have lead Nathan to make no contact for any reason for this period of time? (Most likely not, but if someone was to find him and this was the case, it may make a difference to how they approached him/discussed with him).

The Australian Chamber of Commerce has issued a note to their members, as have Australians in Thailand, and also now here on Thai Visa - if he is not deliberately in hiding then I would think there is a fair chance one of the connections here can locate him - just may be useful to have some more information...

[LindsayBKK]

We're still looking for Nathan Hansford. His sister's waking up to Day 4 of SE Asia search #findnathan

http://t.co/bwW7u7AYwc

[StealthEnergiser]

Sorry to hear he is missing let's hope he is found safe .

i am sure it has been talked about but :

last seen leaving to catch a taxi to mo chit - some taxi drivers do not have a very reputation not sure if he was wearing the gold like in the photo should be investigated

Also there should be camera footage of where he was going to . maybe mo chit bts or train station

[LindsayBKK]

Team Korn retweeted to 4627 followers.

@teamkorn @In_The_Taratory Nathan Hansford - sister's waking up to Day 4 of SE Asia search #findnathan

Edited March 7, 2014 by LindsayBKK

[whybother]

Team Korn retweeted to 4627 followers.

@teamkorn @In_The_Taratory Nathan Hansford sister's waking up Day 4 of SE Asia search #findnathan

What happened with the sighting in Hat Yai? What about information about his wife?

[LindsayBKK]

No news regarding Hat Yai sighting as yet, presume on going. Girlfriend arrived from Australia Tuesday night. Sister-in-law has been here 4 days.

Yes one assumes that hospitals etc.

have been contacted. I tweeted Korn who retweeted to 4627 followers. Any questions for Tara email address: [email protected]

Edited March 7, 2014 by LindsayBKK

[findnathan]

We are very lucky to be able to release the following statement. Thank you so much to everyone who helped, particularly Thai Visa Forum - the reach through this forum is absolutely enormous. We are incredibly grateful.

STATEMENT - NATHAN HANSFORD - FOUND

We are very pleased to report that, with assistance from authorities and social media, Nathan Hansford has been found by family members in Cambodia. We understand Nathan was involved in a motor vehicle accident and for the past few weeks has been gradually trying to return to health. While Nathan is in a stable condition, he remains injured. As part of the accident, Nathan suffered from amnesia which explains why he was unable to contact concerned family and friends.

We have been overwhelmed by the local, national and international response from friends and people we've never met—and will likely never meet—since we issued our request for help to find Nathan last Sunday (2 March). We would especially like to thank all those who shared Nathan's picture and name through social media, as well as Fairfax Media, ABC Radio and 1206 2CC for their unfailing support.

We would also like to specifically thank Australian and Thai officials for their support and ongoing efforts in finding Nathan, especially the outstanding consular staff in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—they are truly a national asset for those in trouble overseas.

Now that we have found Nathan, we request privacy so that Nathan has the time and space to return to his full health and so that his family can concentrate on supporting him. We remain continually grateful for everyone’s support.

[Sheryl]

Wonderful news, thank you for letting us know. All the best to Nathan in his recovery.

[tomyummer]

Wow! Awesome job everyone!!