MAKKAH, 26 December 2004 — A 14-year-old girl, who was missing for 43 days, has returned to her family in Makkah. Maryam Barohi disappeared from her home the night before Eid-Al-Fitr and had not been seen despite the family’s and the police’s best efforts to locate her.
On Friday, Okaz Arabic daily ran a small advertisement requesting people’s help in locating the young girl. According to the girl’s father, Maher Barohi, a few hours after the newspaper appeared on the newsstands, he received a telephone call from his daughter informing him that she had simply been lost for all this time.
According to one of Maryam’s relatives, Ali Hassan Barohi, she had left the house after informing her mother that she was going out. When the girl didn’t return the parents became concerned and contacted the authorities. Maryam stayed missing until Friday when she was able to locate her father’s phone number which accompanied the Okaz advertisement.
According to sources, Maryam was in a state of shock, when she described the details of her disappearance to her family. Apparently, she had not been aware of her family’s contact numbers. She found safe haven in the Holy Haram where she prayed a lot. According to Hassan Ali, Maryam befriended an African woman at the Grand Mosque who helped look after her until she was able to return home.
Maryam’s father said, “I was really worried about her. We looked everywhere for her, including hospitals, police stations, and with friends and relatives. No one gave us any information about her.”
Maher Barohi did not suspect that his daughter was kidnapped because they had no enemies.
When they almost lost hope, the family had to go to the press with her picture, in a desperate attempt to find her. They got a phone call from her saying that she was next to a mini-market beside the Holy Haram and waiting for them to pick her up.
The father denied that his daughter might be suffering from any kind of health or mental problems. He also denied any struggles or fights within the family prior to his daughter’s disappearance.
Maher Barohi has been living in Makkah for 28 years. Maryam was born in Makkah; she has four brothers and three sisters.
