Found Deceased Cambodia - Amelia Bambridge, 21, UK backpacker, Koh Rong, 23 Oct 2019

[Elainera]

Dad of missing Brit teen Amelia Bambridge says she 'broke her own safety rules'

 

[Mersault]

The same six men they were questioning earlier have been arrested. From what's been released, these are local men who mostly work in tourism and have been accused by other Westerners of treating them badly or inappropriately.

Sadly I'm not confident they've got the culprits, on what we know so far.

 

[zecats]

The number goes up.

At least 20 people quizzed over disappearance of British tourist in Cambodia

"As the search entered its fifth day, Preah Sihanouk province police chief Major General Chuon Narin said at least 20 people had been questioned – but no arrests have been made."

Are they all believed to be involved in some way? Or is this a weeding through of people solely based on past behavior? Comments? A tip?

 

[JG123]

Are they all believed to be involved in some way? Or is this a weeding through of people solely based on past behavior? Comments? A tip?

Based on the wording it seems they're just speaking to whoever possible: "We are questioning as many people as possible and we haven’t detained anyone", which to me suggests that they're talking to anyone they can find because they don't have any leads.

 

[Elainera]

Based on the wording it seems they're just speaking to whoever possible: "We are questioning as many people as possible and we haven’t detained anyone", which to me suggests that they're talking to anyone they can find because they don't have any leads.

I think so too. Hopefully leads will develop through the questioning.

 

[Elainera]

It's Wednesday morning in Cambodia.

"A top Cambodian police official involved in the search for a missing British backpacker says the mission will not end until she is found."

Cambodia Officials Continue Searching for British Backpacker Amelia Bambridge

 

[otto]

Off topic again, but I mentioned the beach party in Maui the other day. We stayed at the local hostel. Male employees circled newly arrived young women and invited them to share the nicer rooms for a couple of days. When those girls moved on, male employees circled newly arrived young women. Another problem was locals hanging out at the hostel pretending that they were travellers.

Perhaps Amelia met a local, thought it was a traveller, and broke her safety rules to spend time with him. Maybe he arranged a boat ride to see the famous plankton.

"The six detainees, some of whom work in local bars, have been taken to police headquarters in the neighbouring coastal province of Sihanoukville, a senior officer told AFP on Tuesday."
​

Amelia Bambridge: 6 men arrested over missing British backpacker of in Cambodia | Daily Mail Online

 

[LucyRocket]

police beach koh rong cambodia - بحث Google
Go down to the YouTube videos and it is the third one-16 minutes long.
Sorry I can't do a better job of listing the exact address.
Although this Facebook site is 16 minutes long and very slow, it gives a very good sense of the small size of the Police beach, the shallow, clear water that would not hide a body, the fact that she couldn't have started walking back to her hostel by the beach because of the rocks etc. She would have been inland on the path.
Around about the 6 minute mark the drone moves in closer to the beach and the smallness of the dance area is evident.
Looking at this really changed my opinion of what happened and how easily it could have happened.
Looking at Google maps gave me a sense of greater distance between places, this is in real time.

Great find, thank you. This does give a really good understanding of the immediate environment (although I imagine it looks quite different at 3am with a party going on). Seeing this I do find it incredible that 'her backpack' was found, and yet she hasn't been.

I also wonder what is going on with the questioning of so many people so quickly. The first report saying that 6 people are being questioned; I've never heard of so many people being brought in in one go. It's usually one, which leads to another one or two, which then expands to another few...... not 6 straight off, and now within a matter of hours it's 20???

 

[otto]

Great find, thank you. This does give a really good understanding of the immediate environment (although I imagine it looks quite different at 3am with a party going on). Seeing this I do find it incredible that 'her backpack' was found, and yet she hasn't been.

I also wonder what is going on with the questioning of so many people so quickly. The first report saying that 6 people are being questioned; I've never heard of so many people being brought in in one go. It's usually one, which leads to another one or two, which then expands to another few...... not 6 straight off, and now within a matter of hours it's 20???

I would expect that the bartenders at the Police Beach Club were detained. Her shoulder bag (purse) was found at the bar, her backpack was found on a nearby rock. Seems like she might even have left her purse on a chair while wearing her backpack, was encouraged to leave the backpack on the rock because it would be safe and they'd look at the plankton and be back in a few minutes. Maybe she got onto a boat.

There are water taxis from the Police Beach Club to other points on the Island - was she invited onto a water taxi?

Maybe more bartenders were rounded up from the hostel, or maybe in the town between the Police Beach Club and the Hostel?

"Sparkling like a starry sky all around you, Koh Rong’s bioluminescent plankton are a wonderful sight to behold at night times. "​

Koh Rong's Glowing Plankton 2019 (Updated) | Visit Koh Rong

 

[LucyRocket]

From what I can gather, the purse is a coin purse/wallet inside the backpack/crossbody bag. Everything was found on a rock at the beach near the party she attended.

Which is what I initially thought, until a subsequent report said that the following day, her purse was found at the bar. So backpack on a beach rock containing small coin purse, and a regular, wallet- type purse found at the bar is what I was imagining

 

[peekinandy]

This is so terrible. I have visited Cambodia many times, and the people are so nice, part of the reason I always go back. Just takes one though, doesn't it? They are predominately Buddhist & shy away from confrontation. There are a lot of foreigners living in Sihanoukville, and many tourists visiting ... praying for a good outcome for Ameilia

 

[Steleheart]

Admin Note:

Please leave any references to TripAdvisor comments out of the discussion. They cannot be verified and are not approved for discussion here.

Many have been deleted by Mods so let this stand as the only warning.

Thanks all.
.

 

[otto]

Which is what I initially thought, until a subsequent report said that the following day, her purse was found at the bar. So backpack on a beach rock containing small coin purse, and a regular, wallet- type purse found at the bar is what I was imagining

I don't know how exactly to figure this out, but it seems that "purse" in the UK means coin purse, but "purse" over the shoulder in Cambodia means her over the shoulder purse that was found at the Police Beach Club bar. Where in the bar was it found, who turned it in?

Her backpack is also missing, but that has been found on a rock.

All her stuff was left behind. She's definitely not suicidal, so what happened at the Police Beach Bar that left her helpless, and all her possessions left behind?

She arrived at the Koh Rong Cambodia Beach at 2AM. One and a half hours later, she was gone and no one saw anything.

At what time was her backpack discovered? Who found it? Was the tide out or in when it was found? How many hours after her last communication with family, at 3:23AM - party shot, was her backpack found?

 

[otto]

It's like Amelia is everyone's worst nightmare - everyone's sister and daughter on an adventure who made a mis-step.

 

[Elainera]

I don't know how exactly to figure this out, but it seems that "purse" in the UK means coin purse, but "purse" over the shoulder in Cambodia means her over the shoulder purse that was found at the Police Beach Club bar. Where in the bar was it found, who turned it in?

Her backpack is also missing, but that has been found on a rock.

A few pages back someone explained it very nicely.

It's one bag that was found, not two. The purse is a small bag for coins. It was inside the bag that was found on the rock. The bag on the rock is not a rucksack/backpack, you can see it in pictures taken just before she disappeared where she's wearing it with the strap over the chest with the bag dangling at her side.

Because the rock sits just outside the bar some articles say the bag was found on the rock, others describe it as found at the bar.

 

[otto]

A few pages back someone explained it very nicely.

It's one bag that was found, not two. The purse is a small bag for coins. It was inside the bag that was found on the rock. The bag on the rocks is not a rucksack, you can see it in pictures taken just before she disappeared where she's wearing it with the strap over the chest.

Because the rock sits just outside the bar some articles say the bag was found on the rock, others describe it as found at the bar.

But wasn't she photographed on the night that she was last seen with her shoulder bag? That is different from the backpack that was found on a rock. The "purse" was found at the bar. Should we believe that a coin wallet purse was found at the bar, the backpack was found on the rock, and the shoulder bag/purse was not found?

I don't know. For now I'm going to assume that the shoulder bag "purse" was found at the bar, regardless of UK terms regarding "purse" being a coin wallet.

 

[Chiatos]

But wasn't she photographed on the night that she was last seen with her shoulder bag? That is different from the backpack that was found on a rock. The "purse" was found at the bar. Should we believe that a coin wallet purse was found at the bar, the backpack was found on the rock, and the shoulder bag/purse was not found?

I don't know. For now I'm going to assume that the shoulder bag "purse" was found at the bar, regardless of UK terms regarding "purse" being a coin wallet.

Hi otto, you can find the explanation on page 10, post #191.
Amelia was carrying 1 bag, her shoulder bag/purse. The same that was found on the rock the next day.

 

[slowpoke]

I agree with @Elainera that the bag found on the rock is the only bag Amelia had with her at Police Beach. It may be confusing because it looks like a backpack in design, although a mini one. But it only has a long strap to be worn crossbody.

Further confusing the issue is that news articles have called the bag on the rock by different names: backpack or rucksack or purse, and some articles make mention of a (little cat face) purse as one of the contents in the bag found on the rock. In the US I think most would call the cat face little purse a “coin purse”.

@Mersault had posted a clear picture of Amelia wearing the floral crossbody bag from an earlier time:
Cambodia - Amelia Bambridge, 21, UK backpacker, Koh Rong, 23 October 2019

When we have international cases like this, either translation or word usage can really make it hard to follow at times!

 

[KittleSkittle]

Yes, it’s confusing! My understanding is that there is only one bag, which has been called various things. It was found at Police Beach, which is a beach bar/party spot and so it has been reported both as being found at a bar and found on the beach. The bag was found some time between Amelia going missing, and when the story hit the UK press on Saturday, but photos of the bag weren’t made available immediately, and when they were it was then reported as ‘Bag Found’ as though it was a new discovery.

We know now she arrived at the party at around 2am, and no signs or sightings of her after 3.30am. Something went very wrong, and it went very wrong very fast.

 

[Chiatos]

Nuon Bunthol, governor of Koh Rong city: "We checked one shop’s CCTV camera footage and saw her walking away [from the beach], but not coming back,” he added. “We are now having difficulties with this situation. If she drowned, her body would eventually float, but she’s still missing.
Rescue workers continue search for Amelia Bambridge - Khmer Times

Edit: I wonder whether Amelia was carrying her purple bag when she was walking away from the beach?