A 26-year-old Portuguese woman whose family feared had been kidnapped after she disappeared during Notting Hill Carnival has been found in hospital.
Patricia Araujo travelled from Ashford, Kent to London last weekend to attend the event but was not seen for five days.
She last contacted her family just before midday on Sunday, telling her cousin that she was at the carnival ‘having fun’ and would return home that night.
Patricia’s family travelled to London to look for her and previously said that her disappearance was ‘very out of character’ and urged her to get in touch.
Now her aunt, Claudia Sousa, has said she has been found and has been admitted to Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, The Sun has reported. It is understood that Patricia was first spotted by a member of the public.
Claudia, 41, said on Friday evening: ‘We have just been told Patricia has been located and she is in hospital.
‘We would like to thank everyone for their concern and for helping us by responding to the appeals we’ve made.’
One of her colleagues at the Travelogde Hotel in Ashford, Ryan Cassar, also posted on Facebook: ‘Trisha has been found.’
Video footage, captured by a stranger, showed Patricia at Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday wearing a brown dress with a black jacket tied around her waist and black shoes.
This was the last reported sighting of the 26-year-old before she disappeared for five days.
Her aunt Claudia previously raised concerns that Patricia, whose missing phone was found by a stranger, had been kidnapped.
She told KentOnline: ‘So many days have passed by that we’re thinking about if she has been kidnapped.
‘So many bad things happen at the carnival.’
Relaying her niece’s movements before she went missing, Claudia said Patricia went to Cameo nightclub in Ashford on Friday but left with a rucksack of clothes.
She told CNN Portugal: ‘She got off the train at Stratford Railway Station and called her cousin and asked her if she could go to her house.
‘She then headed there and left the rucksack with a change of clothes inside.
‘Yara asked her why she had come alone and it was then Patricia said she was thinking of going to the Notting Hill Carnival.
‘Her cousin tried to talk her out of it and get her to go out in London with her instead, but in the middle of the night Patricia left and only told her cousin afterwards.’
Claudia said Patricia, or Trish as she is known in England, later told her cousin she was at the carnival and would return Sunday night.
But she never showed up and also has not gone to her job at Travelodge in Eureka Leisure Park, Ashford, since.
Her missing phone was reportedly found by a DJ on Sunday but Patricia’s family only became aware of what was happening on Tuesday when he put the phone on charge and contacted them.