UPDATE 16:15: Ms Hiltunen has been located in a hospital in Nice. Having lost her bag, she did not have any ID on her but she is safe and her family are relieved to have found her. ARPD's lead investigator, Ms Ragot, has spoken to her.
The search for a Swedish woman is underway after she checked her bags in for a flight from Nice airport on September 17 but did not board the plane - and has not been seen since.
The ARPD (Assistance et Recherche de Personnes Disparues) association is looking for clues that could explain the disappearance of Minna Hiltunen, 62, who is bipolar.
Ms Hiltunen was on holiday in the south of France. She took a taxi from her hotel in Sainte-Maxime (Var) to Nice airport. She was seen in terminal 2 at some point before 18:25 and her family have confirmed that she checked in her bags but she was not on the flight back to her home in Sweden.
She was last seen at terminal 2 of the Nice airportARPD
She told her son and daughter that she was looking forward to getting home, but that was the last they have heard from her, her daughter said. “There is no reason to believe that she did not want to come home,” she told BFMTV.
Her family contacted the ARPD, a volunteer-run association that specialises in finding missing people, particularly in cases such as this one when the police does not intervene, to aid in the search.
Before the disappearance
The hotel stated that she left some of her clothes in the bathroom and medication in the room before leaving and did not sleep much during her stay, Karine Ragot, the lead investigator told The Connexion. She seemed restless and incoherent according to employees.
The last time that Ms Hiltunen used her bank card was at a souvenir shop at the Nice airport, at approximately 18:05. Her flight departed at 18:25 so it seems unlikely that she caught it.
The ARPD is unable to get the footage of the airport, which belongs to the Police aux Frontières (border police). "I am angry with the administrative services for not supplying this," said Ms Ragot.
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There were no new unidentified bodies at the Nice morgue. There are many potential explanations behind her disappearance said Ms Ragot, who is hopeful that Ms Hiltunen will turn up in the coming days.
Ms Hiltunen was wearing light blue clothes and carried a burlap bag when last seen. She has the image of a crow tattooed on her neck.
The ARPD can be contacted by calling 07 62 18 77 50 or emailing them at region-sud@arpd.fr. Callers can remain anonymous.
