A major hunt is under way in Dubai for a Royal Navy sailor who went missing after climbing into a taxi in the early hours of Sunday following a night out.
The pregnant wife of Leading Seaman Timothy MacColl, 27, today issued a desperate plea for help.
“We are appealing to the people of Dubai and reaching out to the large expat community to help us find Timmy and raise awareness in that area,” said Rachel MacColl, who lives in Gosport with the couple’s two other children.
“We are desperately worried. Checks have been made with hospitals, prisons, police stations, medical stations and mortuaries and there is no record of him and no sightings so far,” the wife said in a statement issued from the family home.
“I last spoke with Timmy at midday on Saturday and he was in really good spirits and looking forward to speaking with the children on Skype on Sunday. That call never happened. It is completely out of character for him not to contact us, and we are completely at a loss and going crazy with worry.
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“Wherever Timmy is, I know that he wants to be found, he will want us to find him, we need people to help us do that. He may be in trouble somewhere, he could be trapped as far as we know, we have absolutely no idea. Please, please help us find him.”
Leading Seaman MacColl, originally from Killin in Scotland, had gone out to a number of hotel bars with colleagues in Dubai after the warship they were serving on docked at a port in the United Arab Emirates last Saturday for routine maintenance.
He got into the taxi on his own at about 2am after leaving the Rock Bottom Bar inside the Regent Hotel, according to a statement by the Ministry of Defence.
It should have taken just 15 minutes for him to be driven to Port Rashid, where HMS Westminster, a Royal Navy frigate, was docked.
Leading Seaman MacColl has not been seen since.
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A Royal Navy liaison officer is working with the British Embassy and the Dubai authorities to try to locate the missing sailor.
A spokesman said: “We take great care to look after all members of the Naval Service wherever they serve around the world.”
HMS Westminster is one of two British warships deployed as part of a coalition in the Middle East, where tensions with Iran around the Strait of Hormouz, have been high.
The frigate, which left the UAE port yesterday, has been more focused on counter-piracy operations around the Gulf of Aden than on securing the busy waterway off Iran.
The Royal Navy suffered an embarrassment in 2007 when Iranian forces captured 15 service personnel after they strayed into Iranian waters while working off the coast of Iraq.