Five Vietnamese exchange students living in South Australia have disappeared in the past months, leaving police and their host families baffled.
The teenagers are all believed to be students at Hamilton Secondary College in Mitchell Park, in Adelaide.
They disappeared at different times, with one not heard from in around a month, though another student did show up again this week.
In the latest case, Sonnie Nguyen, 17, was last seen at her host family’s home in South Plympton on Monday, and now her phone has been disconnected and her social media accounts wiped.
‘I hope that if she can listen to this, she can call me and tell me, “mum I’m okay, don’t worry”,’ Sonnie’s worried host mother May Zervaas told 7News.
There are growing fears for safety of several Vietnamese exchange students who have disappeared in recent weeks in South Australia. Missing girl Sonnie Nguyen, 17, is pictured
‘I hope she is okay. I’m just worried because her English is not that good.
‘It could be a stupid thing or something really bad has happened.’
The Zervaas family told police that Sonnie – who has three years left on her study visa – seemed happy and had no reason to run away or hide.
A Vietnamese community leader in Adelaide said the missing students may have travelled interstate.
‘I hope that this is a case of, because of school holidays, kids, 17 years old, want to get together to go somewhere and not (tell) anyone,’ Lien Nguyen-Navas of the Vietnamese Womens Association said.
‘I hope that was the case.’
The South Australian acknowledged in a statement that the teenagers had been reported missing in December and January.
‘All lines of inquiries in the investigations indicate that some of these youths may have travelled interstate and still remain there,’ a police spokesman said.
‘There is nothing currently identified in any investigation that would indicate these youths are in immediate danger.
‘SA Police are working with interstate policing counterparts to help locate these youths.’
May Zervaas (left) and her daughter Maria (right) are concerned for the safety of missing Sonnie Nguyen, who was staying with them while studying in Adelaide
