British backpacker Grace Taylor missing in Thailand

[Sheryl]

She was afraid for her safety, walked away form the police and blew on an alert whistle, then demanded to talk with a female officer. From her prior call to her family she was fearful for her safety. Several sources have noted she appears to be mentally disturbed/ in a disturbed mental state. Perhaps something happened that freaked her out, or perhaps she is having a psychotic episode, either due to a mental illness or reaction to drugs.

In any case she is found and safe. She obviously has a concerned family and no doubt they will deal with figuring out what caused this.

[Cook my sock]

We don't know the full story but either way I hope the Thai military government don't come out with any stupid statements .. Seeing as they aren't known for tact or sympathy towards us lot[emoji19]

but big thanks to the Thai authorities who helped her

[Guitar God]

She had a whistle, blew into it and it made a whistley noise.

Why she was as blowing a whistle is anyone's guess.

"Stranger danger alert"?

blowing whistle

i don't know what that means

[Cook my sock]

No idea. Maybe they have alert whistles in the airport ?

[ratcatcher]

“blowing whistle”

i don't know what that means

Have you been to a Thai car park? You will understand.

[bazza40]

If this is, as it seems likely, a drug-induced episode of some kind, then I feel for everyone involved. For the family, for having such anxiety caused to them over something so silly. And for Ms Taylor, for being unfortunate enough to live in a time where a misguided, youthful act ends up with her name splashed all over the world's media in a way that will doubtless hang over her for the rest of her life.

Get real, 15 minutes of fame and tomorrow's fish and chips wrapper.

Until a prospective employer googles you.

You may be right. It's a long time since I applied for a job, and HR departments may well have substituted Google for tools such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Think of the money they'd save on personnel employees.

[peterb17]

Things have changed- when I was 18- set off for 3 months around Europe-the only contact home was the occasional postcard- pre email, texts etc.

Maybe the world has become more dangerous - but it seems if you are not in contact ( as an adult) for five minutes- Interpol is involved.

[BigC]

The RTP are not very good as many are incompetant and frankly don't care about farang .I hope she turns up and is not found murdered like the British couple in Koh Tao!!!

What the police got to do with it

[SunsetT]

It is pretty clear from all reports, including the last one, that she is unwell.

It has been posted that she suffers from bi-polar disorder which can cause psychosis. This means she could be experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations as well as paranoid delusions...........No drink or drugs required!

[jacksam]

What I don't get is why people are stupid enough to let their kids come backpacking in this hovel in the 1st place..... Helllloooo read a newspaper or is there world wide media ban on reporting about Thailand's death toll of forieners?....

And what country are you from brainstorm. You think this does not happen in farang world.

[JeffreyO]

She should be charged for wasting my time and that of the police.

Why? She didn't call the police, others did. Perhaps I should call the police on you and when they find you, you should be arrested for having wasted their time.

[wabothai]

Those of you who are saying a young woman shouldn't go backpacking alone clearly never did much backpacking. Just because you set off alone doesn't mean you'll be travelling alone and vulnerable - pretty much everyone ends up meeting up with some likeminded fellow travellers more or less immediately. That's one of the joys of travelling alone - meeting new people.

I am sure lots of people here speak out of experience. Don't have to carry a backpack to know.

And travelling with 2, one can also meet new people, isn't that so.

Young chicks with hardly any or no travel experience should not be travelling alone, I maintain.

[wabothai]

It is pretty clear from all reports, including the last one, that she is unwell.

It has been posted that she suffers from bi-polar disorder which can cause psychosis. This means she could be experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations as well as paranoid delusions...........No drink or drugs required!

The more reason she shouldn't be travelling alone.

[Cook my sock]

Where does it state she had a history of mental health issues? just seems odd that this would come out so quickly

[jhonnie]

What I don't get is why people are stupid enough to let their kids come backpacking in this hovel in the 1st place..... Helllloooo read a newspaper or is there world wide media ban on reporting about Thailand's death toll of forieners?....

Let me asure you a trip to Thailand is a dam sight safer than 2 weeks in Ibiza of for that matter a night out in Manchester of any other British City.

Well said MTR, you wouldn't catch me out in Sydney after 12 am , 30 million people visit this wonderful country every year and for all good reasons,

I think it was actually the English who derived the word hovel probably from the Germans. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hovel

There are far worse places on this planet than south east Asia, just stick a pin in any world map blindfolded if you don't believe me!

[krabi local]

This article said she was detained by police for her own safety ... I have reports from friends via family that the young lady had history of bipolar disorder... Seems she is safe and maybe they will send her home...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grace-taylor-british-tourist-who-sent-message-saying-people-are-trying-to-hurt-me-detained-for-her-a6890626.html

Utter crap -

She was not detained by the police she was found by an extremely helpful Thai lady from Ao Nang.

She is not and never has been Bi-polar.

[steven100]

Next backpacking trip ? .......... Republic of Congo !!

[Ulic]

I seems to me the job of children/young adults is to give parents something to worry about.

With todays helicopter parents they don't have to do much and the full force of a mother

is brought to bare. Interpol, back-packer community networks, face book, and other

social networks. It is endless. No "Dr. Livingstone I presume" situation. Oh well, she dabbles

in a little pharmaceutical experimentation when she should probably stick to her

bi-polar meds. Just one of those things and I am glad she has been found so quickly.

BTW. All the negative stories about Thailand will not deter young adventure travellers.

It will simply cause there parents to loose sleep from worry. With phone tracking, and

internet/ social networks parents no longer wait for 6 week old postcards and the rare

expensive phone call. They can follow right along, and do.

[Johnniey]

Can't believe all the hate she is getting for being young and going travelling. Thai visa is so full of haters.

Nobody hates her my friend.

There are some people around who have a problem with nitwits, like me.

And that was a generalization.

Well at least you know and admit it!

[Johnniey]

She should be charged for wasting my time and that of the police.

Why? She didn't call the police, others did. Perhaps I should call the police on you and when they find you, you should be arrested for having wasted their time.

It's called sarcasm, maybe you are American?

[sapson]

Backpackers & drugs & alcohol are a recipe for disaster ................................................

She has been found .... but may need to go to a detoxification hospital if she's a drug addict.

probably a big night on the booze didn't help. Wasted resources as i'm sure Interpol and RTP have more important work to attend.

In the case of Interpol, yes waste of their time, a few emails ,input on a data base and a couple of phone calls, but worth it to all involved.

As for the RTP .........................wasting resources,,,,,,,,, pleasezzzz

Better employed collecting brown envelopes,. helping the jetski scam,............. posing for photos with the recently arrested criminal elite street beggars

and acting on hot intelligence with stunning sting operations such as the raid on the heinous den of iniquity ..........the Pattaya OAP bridge club.

[BV70]

5 days without contact does hardly to constitute "missing" status in my book. Either we have overprotective patents or concerns for the mental health of the traveller. In which case, why was she allowed to travel in the first instance?

What happened in the days before the Internet and mobile phones? We had the luxury of postcards and the occasional letter via post restante if we could coordinate arriving in cities with the timing of likely letter arrivals from back home. We never phoned home and back in the day when Samui relied on generators for electricity that were promptly switched off at midnight, there was no way of doing so. And it would be this way for months.

It does seem incredible that technology and communications have advanced so much in 25 years yet appears to have made life more stressful rather than easier for some.

[Bluespunk]

Things have changed- when I was 18- set off for 3 months around Europe-the only contact home was the occasional postcard- pre email, texts etc.

Maybe the world has become more dangerous - but it seems if you are not in contact ( as an adult) for five minutes- Interpol is involved.

To a large extent I agree with you, however if a relative of mine was sending messages about being stalked, I would be worried.

[jhonnie]

Sticky boy on twitter says she's been found at krabi airport

Link in Thai http://www.khaosod.co.th/view_newsonline.php?newsid=1456204871

My written Thai is limited but it looks to me like she is not currently found, but rather it has been confirmed she was in the airport and that airport staff interacted with her/noticed her. Not clear to me that she is currently there nor that her current whereabouts are known.

Still, just confirmation that she reached the airport is good news, rules out some things and narrows down the search.

The article also appears to confirm that she is obviously disoriented. Psychotic break or influence of drugs (whether consumed intentionally or given to her unawares) seem likely. Which makes her vulnerable. Hopefully the airport authorities will assist the family and she will be found soon. Should be enough CCTV footage in that airport to be able to track whether she left it and if so by what means.

my gf says the article says she was interviewed by the cops, refused to talk with any male officers and then ran out of the police station blowing a whistle and behaving in a very distressed manner...?

[Cook my sock]

5 days without contact does hardly to constitute "missing" status in my book. Either we have overprotective patents or concerns for the mental health of the traveller. In which case, why was she allowed to travel in the first instance?

web based rumours and not even defacto

Women travellers occasionally get drugged, kidnapped and gangraped. We don't yet know what happened here but if my wife went missing for 5 days id be extremely worried. She's also in her 20s

[NickJ]

I met a young and very cute Japanese girl travelling alone at the airport in Athens. We got stuck on Milos for almost a month. She didnt need a whistle.

[MorristheRunt]

Things have changed- when I was 18- set off for 3 months around Europe-the only contact home was the occasional postcard- pre email, texts etc.

Maybe the world has become more dangerous - but it seems if you are not in contact ( as an adult) for five minutes- Interpol is involved.

The most fun and enjoyable part of travelling pre internet/ mobiles was the chance to "disappear" for some time.

The internet is amazing, but it's sure made the world considerably smaller and less fun.

[Scouse123]

It is pretty clear from all reports, including the last one, that she is unwell.

Much as I agree with the above comment in full and glad she is safe and found, it leaves little doubt that the parents should have stopped her travelling. I hardly doubt this ' mental strain or illness ' has just manifested itself in Thailand.

Some people are not fit to travel out into the world alone. It amazes me that these days in the computer age, common sense amongst many youngsters seems to have taken a back seat.

Back in the 70s and 80s, for all its faults, I am sure we had, as travellers, more about ourselves with regards being on the alert to our surroundings and behaving accordingly. In those days of course, we did not have immediate access to global technology or the internet. It takes literally seconds these days, to keep in touch.

Anyway, no harm done, they have located her.

[Autonuaq]

She should be charged for wasting my time and that of the police.

no offends anmd very curious about the answer. Why need she be charged for your wasted time?

[Cook my sock]

Sticky boy on twitter says she's been found at krabi airport

Link in Thai http://www.khaosod.co.th/view_newsonline.php?newsid=1456204871

My written Thai is limited but it looks to me like she is not currently found, but rather it has been confirmed she was in the airport and that airport staff interacted with her/noticed her. Not clear to me that she is currently there nor that her current whereabouts are known.

Still, just confirmation that she reached the airport is good news, rules out some things and narrows down the search.

The article also appears to confirm that she is obviously disoriented. Psychotic break or influence of drugs (whether consumed intentionally or given to her unawares) seem likely. Which makes her vulnerable. Hopefully the airport authorities will assist the family and she will be found soon. Should be enough CCTV footage in that airport to be able to track whether she left it and if so by what means.

my gf says the article says she was interviewed by the cops, refused to talk with any male officers and then ran out of the police station blowing a whistle and behaving in a very distressed manner...?

Wow the story is getting altered by the minute