IPOH, March 13 — A family here is urgently searching for 62-year-old R. Thinakaran, who went missing on March 11 after leaving home for a physiotherapy appointment.
T. Ashmitha expressed deep concern for her father’s safety as he suffers from several medical conditions.
Thinakaran has severe back pain, diabetes, and multifocal motor neuropathy as well as being a bypass patient, she said.
“On Tuesday, around 1.30 pm, he said he was going to drive to his physiotherapy centre. He left the house in a dark blue Honda Accord with the registration plate KDQ 1116.
“We tried contacting him after he left his neck collar at home — he typically wears it to his physiotherapy sessions. Despite several attempts, we couldn’t reach him, and we later discovered that his phone had been left behind,” she told Malay Mail.
Ashmitha said her family filed a police report the same day he went missing.
She added that her father was wearing a grey, collared T-shirt and light brown shorts when he left the house.
“We’re worried because my father has difficulty walking and can’t walk far.
“Additionally, he hasn’t driven in over a year. He only started driving again two days before he went missing, after his physiotherapist advised him to do so.
“Given this, we don’t believe he would be able to drive very far,” she explained.
Ashmitha also said this was not the first time her father has gone missing, recalling a similar incident in January.
She said the family lodged a police report then and launched a search of their own as there was no immediate response, before managing to find him by tracking his phone to Kuala Kangsar.
“However, in this recent case, it has now been more than 43 hours, and we still haven’t been able to find him,” she said.
Ashmitha said that the family has enlisted the help of the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela), relatives, friends, and her father’s former colleagues, to search for him from Ipoh to Penang.
Anyone with information about the missing person is urged to contact the following numbers: 017-7869280 or 012-7247845.
