Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Missing French student feared kidnapped

Police in southern Sweden suspect a missing 23-year-old French exchange student who disappeared nearly two weeks ago may have been kidnapped.

Published: 23 January 2013 12:20 CET
Missing French student feared kidnapped

Samuel Babin was last seen on January 11th and was reported missing by fellow students at the Blekinge Institute of Technology.

"There's nothing to indicate he disappeared voluntarily," Lotta Hansson, spokeswoman with the Blekinge County Police, told the Expressen newspaper.

Police now believe foul play may be involved in Babin's disappearance and on Tuesday launched a preliminary kidnapping investigation.

Babin was last seen in a laundry room, and since his disappearance police haven't been able to trace his mobile phone. Nor have any withdrawals been made from his bank account.

According to a description published on the Facebook page of Missing People Sweden, which has been involved in the search for Babin, he has blue eyes, long, light brown hair, and sometimes wears glasses.

He is about 175 centimetres tall, weighs between 75 and 80 kilogrammes and is believed to be wearing blue jeans and black sneakers.

On Tuesday, Missing People and police worked together to search for Babin at the Dragsö island camping and recreation area on the outskirts of Karlskrona.

According to fellow students, Babin was fond of the island, but a search of the island's woods and beaches failed to turn up any trace of the missing French student, leading police to launch a probe into his possible abduction.

If no progress is made in the case, Missing People plans to organize a more extensive search party on Saturday.

Anyone with any information about Babin or his possible whereabouts is encouraged to contact Swedish police at 114 14.

The Local/dl

This story first appeared on The Local Sweden

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

A 14-year-old girl has died of a heart attack in eastern France after her school locked down to protect itself from a knife attacker who lightly wounded two other girls, an official said on Friday.

Published: 20 April 2024 08:58 CEST
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

The teenager “was rescued by teachers who were very fast to call the fire department. She died at the end of the afternoon,” education official Olivier Faron said.

The girl’s middle school in the village of Souffelweyersheim closed its doors on Thursday afternoon after a man stabbed two other girls aged 7 and 11 outside a nearby primary facility.

“Sadly this pupil underwent an episode of very high stress that led to a heart attack,” Faron said.

A mother outside the middle school on Friday morning said her son in first year of secondary had also been scared during the lockdown the previous day.

“Whereas in the primary school they made it more like a game, perhaps here it was a little too direct,” Deborah Wendling said.

“He thought there was an armed person in the school. They could hear doors slamming, but in fact it was just other classrooms locking down.”

Faron defended the teachers.

READ ALSO: Schoolgirl threatens teacher with knife as tensions rise in French schools

“There is no perfect solution,” he said.

But “we will analyse in depth what happened. If there are lessons to be taken from this, we will take them.”

The two girls hurt in the attack were discharged from hospital on Thursday evening with only light wounds.

Police have arrested the 30-year-old assailant, and a probe has been opened into “attempted murder of minors”, the prosecutor’s office said.

It was not immediately clear what had motivated him, but it did not appear to be “a terrorist act”, it said.

He was “psychiatrically fragile” and appeared to have stopped his medication.

The incident follows a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday announced measures to crack down on teenage violence in and around schools.

SHOW COMMENTS