The Hindu : National : Missing Japanese youth's parents arrive

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 29, 2006
ePaper

National

National

Missing Japanese youth's parents arrive

Staff Reporter

Kota Shinozaki went missing after arriving in New Delhi on September 3

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

IN SEARCH OF HER SON: The mother of the missing 21-year-old Kota Shinozaki breaks down while holding his picture in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: While the Delhi police are yet to find any clue to the missing 21-year-old Japanese student, Kota Shinozaki, his parents have landed here.

A Japanese Embassy official told a press conference here on Saturday that Kota Shinozaki's parents said he had not contacted them, either on the phone or through email, after reaching Delhi by a Cathay Pacific flight on September 3. They were not aware of his travel plans.

It was his first visit to India and he was travelling alone. According to the information given by the Embassy, Kota Shinozaki checked in at the airport immigration counter and then exchanged $100 for Indian rupee before he went missing. He was due to return to Japan on September 23 and his return ticket expired on October 2

``His parents approached the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo at the end of September who in turn got in touch with the Embassy in Delhi. The Embassy then lodged a complaint with the Chanakyapuri police station on October 17. It was then referred to the Station House Officer of the Indira Gandhi International Airport for further action,'' the senior Embassy official stated.

He said the Embassy had so far not officially sought help from the Indian Government but in an effort to locate the missing youth had in fact checked and scanned the records of a large number of taxi operators, hotels and guesthouses to try and locate Kota Shinozaki.

The Delhi police have also issued a notice in search of Kota Shinozaki and people have been requested to provide information to either the Japanese Embassy or the IGI Airport police station.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National