Search Intensifies for Missing Moroccan Teen in Spain as Family Pleads for Help

The young girl was last seen at the Jaraíz de la Vera (Cáceres) train station where she took a bus to Madrid. Investigators have viewed the security cameras at the Madrid station and saw Salma was not accompanied. According to her relatives, "she left with her ID card," but "without a bank card." Since Wednesday, her cell phone has been turned off. Contacted by El Cierre Digital, Karima, the girl’s aunt, confides that her family is "devastated".

In her second year of high school, Salma is currently "in the middle of the exam period". "Even if I think she was a little scared because she didn’t work hard, she’s excited to go to university and wants to study architecture," says her aunt Karima, stressing that the young Moroccan is normally attending classes and "maintains good relationships with her classmates". Unlike most young people her age, she doesn’t really like to go out and "prefers to spend time at home" with her family, adds Karima.

The young girl was deeply affected by the death two weeks ago of her 9-year-old cousin from cancer, a disease that had also taken her grandfather and another cousin, her aunt Karima recounts, specifying that the young girl may be "frightened" by this disease. According to the first elements of the investigation, Salma may have left with a man she met on social networks. Karima confirms that the young girl has an Instagram account that they were unable to access on Thursday, the day after her disappearance.

Her boyfriend, also of Moroccan origin, is also devastated. The two met in Morocco during the end-of-year holidays that Salma and her family spent in the kingdom. The young man is "5 to 10 years older than her and she wanted to get engaged to him," her aunt confides. Salma’s family has posted a missing person notice with her photo on social media. Her brother filed a missing persons report at the municipal police station in Jaraíz de la Vera and told the officers that the young girl is passionate about reading and was exchanging with people who share the same passion through an app. A lead that investigators could explore in an attempt to find her.