When a relative or friend goes missing abroad it can be very distressing and you may feel at a loss as to what to do about it.

If you are in the UK and worried about a British national who you think is missing abroad, we can let you know how to produce a missing person's report for your local police so Interpol enquiries can begin.

Contact the FCO

Contact the FCO in London on 020 7008 1500 or if you are abroad yourself then contact us here.

Although we cannot carry out physical searches on your behalf, we can give you information about appropriate local authorities. We can also give you contact details for any relevant local charitable and voluntary organisations specialising in tracing missing people.

Detective agencies

Where appropriate, we can give you information about the federation or association of any local private detective agencies.

If you want, Consular staff in London can meet family representatives, maintain contact with you and tell you about any new developments.

If you suspect a relative of friend has gone missing in Singapore you should contact Consular Section at the High Commission.

We can only help in cases where regular contact has been unexpectedly lost.

We can NOT help if you wish to trace someone you lost contact with a long time ago.

You should try to provide as much information about the missing person as you can, such as:

• name, date and place of birth
• the last time and place contact was made
• their travel itinerary and where you think they may be
• mobile phone number and/ or email address
• passport and insurance details

If you are in the UK you should contact your local police force and ask them to inform the UK National Centre Bureau of Interpol, who will liaise with the relevant foreign police.

Please be aware that responsibility for conducting searches overseas rests with the local police force. UK police will assist with enquiries but it is rare they will become actively involved in the case.

What we can do to help:

• check our records to see if the missing person has come to our attention.  The Data Protection Act 1988 may prevent us from releasing certain information
• liaise with the local authorities and will keep you informed of our progress
• pass onto the appropriate UK authorities any requests from host governments for help in mounting a  search, rescue and recovery operation
• our High Commission staff can arrange to meet you should you decide to travel abroad to search yourself
• provide information on local printing companies, should you wish to initiate a poster and leaflet campaign. We can advise on suitable poster locations
  

What we can’t do:

• conduct physical searches on your behalf.
• provide financial assistance for rescue operations of people missing in remote areas
• pay for the repatriation of a body
• control media coverage of the case.

We never release information that is not in the public domain. But you should be aware that the media may be persistent in obtaining background information on the missing person.

What you can do:

Consider the following when trying to trace a missing person:

• when and why were you expecting contact from them?
• was there anything in their last communication with you that might suggest where they are now or why they might not have been in touch?
• you may wish to contact the family of any travelling companions, or other people with whom the missing person might have been in contact whilst abroad
• the missing person’s bank or building society may be able to tell you when and from where their account was last accessed.  The bank may require official police intervention before they agree to give you this information
• in some countries it may be possible to offer a reward for information.  Consider the implications of this and contact an organisation that has experience of tracing missing persons
• consider what you would be able to achieve by travelling to the country yourself. Local authorities may be reluctant to pass on information

You may wish to identify a personal item of the missing person.  A toothbrush, hairbrush or razor could provide a DNA profile.

Related document: Missing persons abroad (PDF)