UPDATE 16:15: Mrs 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. Mrs Ragot has spoken to her personally
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.
Mrs 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 spotted 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 Mrs Hiltunen used her card was at a souvenir shop at the Nice airport, at approximately 18:05. Her flight departed at 18:25 so it seems very unlikely that she was on the plane. She had no money either on her or in her bank account at the time of her disappearance.
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 footage," said Mrs Ragot.
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There were no new unidentified bodies at the Nice morgue. There are many potential explanations behind her disappearance said Mrs Ragot, but she is hopeful that she will turn up in the coming days.
Mrs Hiltunen was wearing light blue clothes and carried a burlap bag when she was last spotted. She has a crow tattooed on her neck.
If you have any information about the disappearance, contact the ARPD by calling 07 62 18 77 50 or emailing them at region-sud@arpd.fr. You may remain anonymous if you wish.
