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A 21-year old solo traveler, Amelia Bambridge, from the UK disappeared sometime after 0300 hours on 24 October while on a solo holiday to Cambodia and neighboring countries. Immediately prior to her disappearance she left the Nest Beach Hostel to attend a private beach party Police Beach on Koh Rong.
Koh Rong is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, in the southwest of Cambodia (Sihanoukville Province) it is about 78 square kilometers in size.
More than 150 people joined in the search for Bambridge over the ensuing days. Additionally, her family flew into Cambodia from the UK to assist. Her personal items including her bag containing a phone, money and credit cards were found the morning after on a beach near where they beach party had occurred.
As the search continued, the number of those participating grew to over 200 and included army, navy and police personnel on 29 October. Police brought six Cambodians in for questioning. These individuals work within the tourist industry on Koh Rong and were thought to have perhaps witnessed Bambridge the evening she disappeared. The six men, according to Koh Rong Governor, Noun Bunthol had previously been reported as having “acted badly” toward foreign tourists, especially females.
On 31 October, sadly, the body of Amelia Bambridge was found adrift at sea, some 60 miles away from the island of Koh Rong by a Cambodian fisherman. Authorities confirmed she had drowned. The above map, courtesy of the UK media outlet, The Sun, depicts the distance between where she went missing and was found.
The official school of thought is that Amelia, a solo traveler, went to the beach, alone, and decided to take a dip at 0300 hours. She tragically died. The fact that her backpack was found in proximity to the beach with nothing missing lends credence to this theory.
When traveling solo it isn’t always easy to “buddy-up” with other travelers so that one is afforded the protection of the pack. Solo night swimming isn’t recommended under any circumstances, especially in unfamiliar waters. We don’t know if Amelia was a strong swimmer or a novice. What we do know is that she went into the water sometime after 0300 hours and wasn’t missed until 0730 when the hostel where she was staying noticed she had not returned.
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