RIYADH - Attempts by the South African Embassy, relatives and acquaintances to find Dannelene Noach, a nurse who has been missing since November last year after whistle-blowing on alleged irregularities at a local hospital, have been unsuccessful.

"We have written more than half dozen letters to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a staggered timeframe to trace Noach, but to no avail," South African Ambassador John Davies said yesterday.

Adding to the intrigue in the case is that the family claims Noach contacted them about 10 days ago.

"It was a landline call; we were able to trace the number and passed it on to the South African Embassy in Riyadh," said Lee-Ann Noach-Pienaar, the daughter of the missing nurse.

"My mother sounded very desperate," she added.

The family says that they suspect Noach is being held captive and that her captors are allowing her to contact her family, but would only allow her to speak in English so they could understand the conversation.

"I don't know how it all happened, how she managed to call her family in South Africa from an undisclosed location after so many days," said Davies. "We have received general information about Noach from King Abdul Aziz Medical City, where she used to work, but we have failed to trace her so far."

Family members have contacted the Saudi and South African governments for help, but they say their efforts have been in vain. Noach, from Cape Town, worked in Riyadh for about seven years. The last time she spoke to her daughter before disappearing was on Nov. 20.

"We spoke on the phone every day. On the first day I couldn't contact her I thought there was probably something wrong with her phone, but when we didn't hear from her the next day then I knew something was wrong," said Noach-Pienaar.

"The embassy has already conveyed its concerns to the Saudi officials," said Davies. "And we have heard that the nurse is being kept captive somewhere in the city."

According to Noach-Pienaar, her mother, who worked as a clinical coordinator at the Riyadh hospital, was asked in May last year to conduct an audit of her department and had discovered financial discrepancies implicating some officials.

"As soon as she submitted her report, she was suspended without pay. She had taken the matter up with a local human rights organization because they cited (her use of) black magic as the reason for the suspension," said Noach-Pienaar.