Singaporean Missing in Greece

[Dogbert1973]

AsiaOne

Sunday, Oct 02, 2011

A Singaporean man has been missing in Athens for five days. He missed a medical conference that he flew there to attend and has not been heard from since.

 

Mr Kouk Leong Jin, a graduate student at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, arrived in the Greek capital last Monday.

 

He made a call at about 10.40pm (Athens time) to a classmate, Mr Leong Jin He, on Tuesday evening, Sep 27, but the latter missed the call as he was already sleeping. They were both scheduled to attend the conference together.

 

Chinese local evening dailies reported that his wife of two weeks, Madam Seow Shu Ping, a 28-year-old teacher, and Mr Kouk's parents are preparing to fly to Athens this evening to look for him.

 

A Facebook page has also been created, with details of his time in Athens up until the time he was last heard from being chronicled, in an apparent effort to find people who may know of his whereabouts.

 

Madam Seow told Chinese daily reporters that she last heard from her husband on Monday, the day that he arrived in Athens. He sent her an SMS to tell her that he had arrived safely, followed by an email later in the evening. In the email, he told her that he was going to visit some smaller islands the next day. He had gone exploring some hills earlier and was full of praise for Greece's ancient architecture.

 

Madam Seow noted that her husband's behaviour had seemed normal, even promising to keep in contact with her, but she has not heard from him since then.

 

She said: "The conference was to have lasted from Wednesday to Friday, but since he went missing on Tuesday, I contacted some of his classmates, only to find out that he did not attend the conference at all."

 

Mr Leong told Shin Min that Mr Kouk did not respond to his SMS on the first day of the conference. When he tried to call Mr Kouk at 10pm later that night, he found out that the line was not connected.

 

A check with the hotel where Mr Kouk was staying showed that he last accessed his hotel room on Tuesday evening. A check with his telecoms provider showed he had surfed the Internet using his phone at a little past 10pm (Athens time) on the same day.

 

Duke-NUS told the Chinese evening dailies that a representative from the school will be sent to Athens to render assistance, while the family of the missing man has also reportedly contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the local embassy in Athens for help. Local police there have been alerted, while a notice was also posted on a Greek 'missing persons' website.

 

Wife buys one-way ticket to Athens

 

Madam Seow told Shin Min Daily News that she would not come back until she found her husband.

 

She and Mr Kouk's parents are reportedly flying to Athens this evening to look for him.

 

She told Shin Min: " If I cannot find him I'm not coming back."

 

After learning that Mr Kuok last went missing on Tuesday, she also found out that he has not checked out of his hotel room to date, nor was he on the return flight that was booked for him back to Singapore.

 

She said: "I can feel that he's just waiting for me to rescue him!"

 

The hotel staff reported that his room has remained untouched on Saturday evening, with his belongings in place.

 

Mr Kouk is about 1.7m tall, wears spectacles, and was last seen waering a light blue collared shirt. He was carrying a black bag, and wearing a pair of black shoes.

 

Asiaone

[Dogbert1973]

Such a strange story

 

anyone familiar with Greece? Is there a problem as an Asian Tourist there?

 

 

[WolfT]

Racist country. I was refused a cab because i am a chinese. Go with tour still ok.

[Maroon5]

sigh...pray for the best. frankly athens looks jus like their economy now. very old, very messy.

asians are rare sight in greece. mostly europeans and locals.

[Ender]

Somehow the movie 'hostel' comes to mind..

 

hope everything is alright.

[Jman888]

the country was chaotic for past few weeks, why they still carry on with the conference and he still want to go there?

[Scion]

Greece is not a popular country now... given their incompetence to cut their hefty deficit despite inching closer and closer to bankruptcy...

and keep asking for bailouts

 

i'm sure the Germans dislike them most

[Hermitage]

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:13 AM, Ender said:

Somehow the movie 'hostel' comes to mind..

 

hope everything is alright.

 

Yeah, or some other movie like that. The article reads like a script right out of Hollywood! Scary man!

[Doosan]

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:17 AM, Scion said:

Greece is not a popular country now... given their incompetence to cut their hefty deficit despite inching closer and closer to bankruptcy...

and keep asking for bailouts

 

i'm sure the Germans dislike them most

 

1 or 2days back, was watching cctv having dialogue over "can china do its part to save greece?"

 

greece seems hvng very good working terms & cond for salary workers.

 

banks stop work at 2pm.

 

retirement is at the age of 5O.

 

i think sri lanka is the best in the world in terms of public holidays.

 

officially half day off b4 the lunar month of 1st day/ 15th day.

 

officially off days a week or more during buddha festival.

 

it looks like the sri lankans enjoying more tha 1OO days in a yr in PH

[Donut]

I have a bad feeling he kana kidnapped for some reasons.

 

He called friend at 10+pm at night, must be he wants to go out for some night life. Since friend didn't pick up call, he might go out alone. Go pub drink, and kena con by some ppl to follow to somewhere. Or on the way, he kena rob or mugged, and left somewhere to die.

 

Greece is bankrupt, the ppl are desperate. So they might be looking for foreigners to make $$.

[Donut]

I have a bad feeling he kana kidnapped for some reasons.

 

He called friend at 10+pm at night, must be he wants to go out for some night life. Since friend didn't pick up call, he might go out alone. Go pub drink, and kena con by some ppl to follow to somewhere. Or on the way, he kena rob or mugged, and left somewhere to die.

 

Greece is bankrupt, the ppl are desperate. So they might be looking for foreigners to make $$.

[SimonTan]

Life is short.

Perhaps the 10:40pm call was his last ditch for help, but the friend did not answer.

 

It's rare for him to be lost, and yet uncontactable by phone.

Unless he is in some ulu safari land, there will always be civilization for him to call telephone or charge phone.

 

I fear for the worst.....

 

[Pyramid_sg]

Hope this guy can be found.

 

My impression of Greece is that they are racist, cheats and lazy. People there don't want to work but yet enjoy life. Transport system there is chaotic and the cab drivers will cheat you knowing that you are a tourist. Some won't even take you because of your skin colour. Taking the ferry to the islands is like a free for all. The so called porters are more interested in watching UEFA soccer than helping the elderly and disabled (white and non white) board the ferry. Restaurant waiters give you the sour face look when serving you.

 

If you ask me, they deserve to be poor. They should just nuke the whole country and start over.

 

Get the Singaporean out first.

[Maxus-MIFA9]

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:37 AM, Doosan said:

1 or 2days back, was watching cctv having dialogue over "can china do its part to save greece?"

 

greece seems hvng very good working terms & cond for salary workers.

 

banks stop work at 2pm.

 

retirement is at the age of 5O.

 

i think sri lanka is the best in the world in terms of public holidays.

 

officially half day off b4 the lunar month of 1st day/ 15th day.

 

officially off days a week or more during buddha festival.

 

it looks like the sri lankans enjoying more tha 1OO days in a yr in PH

 

No wonder their populations exploded yearly until they had to export their labour forces to other cuntries .....

[Maroon5]

  On 10/3/2011 at 3:38 AM, Donut said:

I have a bad feeling he kana kidnapped for some reasons.

 

He called friend at 10+pm at night, must be he wants to go out for some night life. Since friend didn't pick up call, he might go out alone. Go pub drink, and kena con by some ppl to follow to somewhere. Or on the way, he kena rob or mugged, and left somewhere to die.

 

Greece is bankrupt, the ppl are desperate. So they might be looking for foreigners to make $$.

 

athens has a nice nightlife. dinner starts late and can go on for 2hrs but frankly at the current situation, i wouldnt even stay outdoors past 8pm. the streets are jus very dark once u leave the centre.

[Icedbs]

  On 10/3/2011 at 4:12 AM, Pyramid_sg said:

Hope this guy can be found.

 

My impression of Greece is that they are racist, cheats and lazy. People there don't want to work but yet enjoy life. Transport system there is chaotic and the cab drivers will cheat you knowing that you are a tourist. Some won't even take you because of your skin colour. Taking the ferry to the islands is like a free for all. The so called porters are more interested in watching UEFA soccer than helping the elderly and disabled (white and non white) board the ferry. Restaurant waiters give you the sour face look when serving you.

 

If you ask me, they deserve to be poor. They should just nuke the whole country and start over.

 

Get the Singaporean out first.

 

This is why they should just bankrupt and stop those bailouts. It is foolish to save Greece and drag the whole Eurozone with it

[Donut]

got to be extra careful in overseas.

 

in some countries, ppl see us as ATM machines.

 

I hope this guy is just lost or met with minor accident and just waiting for someone to ID him.

 

Greece can be a dangerous place, despite the nice med. sea and scenary they have.

 

 

[Doosan]

  On 10/3/2011 at 4:13 AM, Picnic06 said:

No wonder their populations exploded yearly until they had to export their labour forces to other cuntries .....

 

5-7yrs ago, my customers fr Sri Lanka told me tat SL is hvng a social problem.

 

those students (of course, not all of them lah) who came fr remote countryside/out of capital, who r studying in secondary/upper secondary school, posing a threat to some families.

 

these students r young, handsome, energetic, full of ooohm power, making some house wives proving them with foods, daily essentials, a little pocket $, in exchange for their sex services.