SA man goes missing in UK
2010-03-12 14:05
Cape Town - Police in the UK are looking for a South African man who has been missing for over a week.
Donovan van Lill, a popular 29-year-old gym worker and rugby player went missing on Wednesday last week, and his friends have put up hundreds of posters around towns in Wiltshire, according to a newspaper report in the UK.
“Donovan was last seen at home on Wednesday morning when his housemate went to work”, says a Facebook group set up to find him.
The group, which has more than 7 000 members, says alarm was raised when he didn’t turn up for work, which was “very out of character for him”.
Craig Duckworth, a friend of Van Lill’s told News24 from Durban: “All he had on him when he disappeared were the clothes on his back. He didn’t take his cellphone, car keys, passports or wallet.”
"I came back to South Africa two years ago, so he's been over there for about five or six years," he said.
Van Lill has British and South African passports.
Outgoing and popular
“He is an outgoing guy, very popular and is always cracking jokes, so we don’t think he was in any kind of trouble,” said Duckworth.
According to the Bath Chronicle in the UK, his bosses reported him missing on Thursday after he failed to show up for work.
“We have been around his house and worked out that he’d been wearing the green South African Springbok fleece jacket he always wears, says Gary Barber, one of the people looking for him. “It doesn’t look like he meant to go anywhere, because if you were walking out on your life, you’d take your wallet with you surely.”
Police are also believed to have spoken to his Slovakian girlfriend, who was in Egypt at the time of his disappearance.
A report in the Wiltshire Times said Van Lill’s teammates at Corsham Rugby Club are concerned about his disappearance.
“At the end of the day he’s one of our teammates and so we’re worried about him,” said Corsham captain Jason Goldsworthy.
Van Lill’s mother, who lives in Durban is at this point unwilling to speak to the media.