Family fear woman last seen at Notting Hill carnival has been kidnapped
The worried family of a woman missing after the Notting Hill Carnival have pleaded for help to find her.
Patricia Araujo’s family said they last heard from her on Sunday and have now travelled to London to look for her.
They are understood to have contacted police about the 26-year-old, who is originally from Aveiro in northern Portugal but has been living in Ashford in Kent for the past six years.
Her aunt Claudia said on Facebook, revealing Patricia’s lost phone had now been found: ‘Has anyone seen Patricia Araujo? Last heard from on Sunday.
‘She has gone missing and her phone has been found by someone.
‘Last known to have been probably attending Notting Hill Carnival over the weekend. Please share far and wide to help find her.’
Claudia also told KentOnline that they fear ‘if she has been kidnapped,’ adding that ‘so many bad things happen at the carnival.’
Thanking people for their support she wrote: ‘Thank you so much for your help, shares and prayers.
‘Police are involved already. We hope she will be found safe and well.’
She added in a follow-up message yesterday: ‘We went to London and spent all night looking for her.
‘We will respond to the messages as soon as we can but at the moment we need rest because we are very tired. Thank you for all your support.’
Claudia has told media in Portugal her niece went out in Ashford before heading to London with a rucksack to meet up with her cousin Yara who lives in the capital.
She told CNN Portugal: ‘She got off the train at Stratford Railway Station and called her cousin and asked her if she could go to her house.
‘She then headed there and left the rucksack with a change of clothes inside.
‘Yara asked her why she had come alone and it was then Patricia said she was thinking of going to the Notting Hill Carnival.
‘Her cousin tried to talk her out of it and get her to go out in London with her instead, but in the middle of the night Patricia left and only told her cousin afterwards.”
Claudia said Patricia, or Trish as she is known in England, had later told her cousin she was at the carnival and would return Sunday night but never showed.
Her missing phone was reportedly found by a DJ on Sunday but Patricia’s family only became aware of what was happening on Tuesday when he put the phone on charge and spoke to her concerned relatives.
A witness who contacted Patricia’s aunt is said to have told her she saw her at the carnival looking ‘slightly disorientated.’
The Met Police have been contacted for a comment.
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