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Laura Dekker - Source: ONE News -
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A Dutch teenager whose dream to become the youngest person to
sail singlehanded around the world was thwarted by child welfare
authorities has gone missing from her father's home, police
said.
Police spokesman Bernhard Jens said relatives in the city of
Utrecht had reported Laura Dekker, 14, missing on Saturday (NZT)
and authorities in nearby countries had been alerted to her
disappearance and asked to monitor airports.
Jens added that Dekker's boat was believed to be moored at its usual place, but she had left her father's home.
"We are concerned because she is 14 years old and she has to come home," Jens said.
Dutch public broadcaster NOS said Dekker had left a letter for her father -- whom she lives with - before disappearing, but did not reveal its contents.
The broadcaster quoted a family spokeswoman as saying Dekker's father did not know where she was.
Born on her parents' boat in New Zealand, Dekker spent the first four years of her life at sea and had intended to start a two-year solo voyage around the world on her 8.3 metre (27 ft) yacht Guppy on Sept 1 when she was still 13.
Her plans had captured the attention of both international media and the sea-faring Dutch, but a court blocked her departure and placed her under state supervision, saying the trip posed risks to Dekker's safety.
Dream shattered
Elly Laanen, chairwoman of the Utrecht child welfare office, said she regretted that Dekker had decided to take this step and hoped she would return soon.
"You can say that her dream was broken into pieces and all the attention that this caused is, in my opinion, never good for a girl of 14," Laanen said.
Laanen said the matter was now in the hands of police and she could not comment on whether Dekker might still be in the Netherlands.
Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant said Dekker had withdrawn 3,500 euros from her bank account, but police could not confirm this.
In a televised interview in August, Dekker, an experienced sailor, said she was not frightened of making the solo journey and has repeatedly expressed an intention to pursue her plans.
"I'm not scared because I know that I can do it and my boat is good," she said in the interview.
But Dekker's mother, Babs Muller, has in Dutch media publicly warned against her daughter's plans.
Muller, who has lived apart from Laura and her father since Laura was six, said she thought her daughter was technically capable of making a world trip but she was worried about her safety in ports and psychological isolation at sea.
A lawyer representing the teenager and her father referred
inquiries on Sunday to a family spokeswoman, who did not return
phone calls.
