Missing Girl's Family 'Cannot Stop Crying'

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

The father of Amira Abase, one of three British teenagers thought to have run away to Syria, has said his family "cannot stop crying" and appealed for her to return home.

Amira, 15, and Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, were last seen on Tuesday morning as they left their homes in East London, telling their families they would be out for the day.

They are believed to have boarded a Turkish Airlines flight at Gatwick which landed in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and it is thought they were planning to cross into Syria and join terror group Islamic State.

The girls' families have already issued pleas to their daughters to return to the UK.

But speaking yesterday, Amira's father Abase Hussen said his family was "completely different now".

1/7

Gallery: Final Pictures Of Missing London Schoolgirls

These pictures were taken from Kadiza Sultana (l) and Shamima Begum's (r) twitter accounts

Kadiza and Shamima are feared to be on their way to Syria with a third girl, 15-year-old Amira Abase

]]>

Scotland Yard is urgently trying to trace three teenage girls who are from the same East London school

]]>

CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey

]]>

CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey. Kadiza Sultana is pictured here

]]>

He added: "We are depressed, and it's very stressful. The message we have for Amira is to get back home. We miss you. We cannot stop crying. Please think twice. Don't go to Syria."

Mr Abase said Amira's younger brother and sister "cannot stop crying and they are in a difficult situation".

Amira had shown no signs that anything was amiss as she left home on Tuesday morning, Mr Hussen said, saying she was going to a wedding.

"She said 'daddy, I'm in a hurry'," he said.

"There was no sign to suspect her at all."

Later that morning she had sent her father a text saying: "Dad, the place is a little bit far. I pray my midday pray and I get back."

But she never returned and the family reported her missing about midnight on Tuesday.

Mr Abase, 47, said his daughter had not spoken about Syria or politics with her family but he did not know if she had discussions with her friends.

A tweet sent from Shamima Begum's Twitter account two days earlier, asked a friend already in Syria to follow her so they could start messaging privately.

It is understood Shamima Begum had exchanged messages online with Aqsa Mahmood, a former private school pupil from Glasgow who travelled to Syria to marry a fighter.

Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing Aqsa's family, told Sky News security authorities are not passing on intelligence which could allow families to prevent their children from travelling to Syria or Iraq.

These failings mean the UK is "exporting terror" abroad, he said.

Questions have also been raised over how the girls - who attended the Bethnal Green Academy and were described as "straight-A students" - were able to leave the UK so easily.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Kurban Ilmu