BANGKOK, THAILAND – A British family had been searching for weeks for missing Wayne Charles Smith, whose last reported location was near Soi Sukhumvit 71/1 in Bangkok’s Wattana district.
Contact lost after December location message
According to his sister Alison Jacks, contact with Smith broke off on 27 December last year, when he last sent his relatives and a friend a location near Soi Sukhumvit 71/1 in Bangkok. Jacks said she first posted her appeal in several Facebook groups in January but had received
“no useful information”
said Alison Jacks, Smith’s sister.
Family drives online search via expat groups
A missing-person poster for Wayne Charles Smith circulated on Facebook, shared by Jacks in expat groups in Bangkok and Pattaya to reach potential witnesses. She did not provide further public details about the purpose of her brother’s trip to Bangkok, such as whether he was in the country for work or tourism.
Mirror Foundation coordinates wider effort
On 12 February, the Missing Person Centre of the Mirror Foundation in Thailand published several photos of Smith to coordinate the search and reunite him with his family. The organisation described him as about 180 centimetres tall and around 80 kilograms in weight, with fair skin, short brown hair, surgical scars on his arm and shoulder, and red skin changes on both arms.
Calls to contact Tourist Police amid open questions
Members of the expat community advised the family in online comments to contact the Tourist Police to trace Smith’s possible whereabouts or accommodation in Bangkok. Jacks had not yet stated publicly whether the case had been officially registered as a missing person report with the regular local police.
Strong reaction across Thai social media
Under the Mirror Foundation’s post, numerous Thai users expressed hope that Smith would soon be found and safely return to his family. Several comments stressed that spreading his photos and personal details on social media could be crucial to reaching potential witnesses in the vast metropolis.
Previous case of missing Scottish visitor
The current case followed another missing-person report involving a foreign visitor, after Scot Kenny Robertson was reported missing by his family in January. Robertson had, according to his relatives, landed in Bangkok on 5 January for a holiday and volunteer work at a dog protection project, and on 25 January the Facebook page I Love Thailand reported that a close friend had located him and he was safe, while the family thanked the public for its support without giving reasons for the earlier loss of contact.