Missing French cyclist (Mumbai/South, seen Mapusa?): Jean-Baptiste Talleu

estelleo

For the attention of travellers

Here are attached two photos of Jean-Baptiste Talleu, a French cycling from France to Asia.

While he used to send e-mails regularly, since the 5th December 2007 he hasn't given any news. He took a flight from Dubai to Mumbai (Bombai) the 5th December and effectively arrived as he withdrew money from the bank this day in Mumbai (his parents can check his account). But since, nothing, no news, no mail, no withdrawal. His family worries a lot.

He planned to cycle to the South of India.

He's 26 years old, 1, 80 m tall, he has long curly brown-dark hair, always tied. He's thin and usually wear beige, brown, blue or black cloths, never multicoloerd.

If you see him, please tell him to give some news and if you have any useful informations, please write us an e-mail esosmanovic@hotmail.com

Thank you a lot

Attached Thumbnails

   

Nick-H

I'm not sure where this should go, but Forum help is definately the wrong place.

Moved it here, as in a hurry to go out.

Wishing all the best.

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Noodle

This is really worrying especially as it's been more than two months since he's withdrawn money. Did the parents not contact local authorities or the French embassy?

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Khandoma

Very sorry to hear that, Estelleo. I hope you get good news soon. Bon courage à tous.

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PeakXV

Since it is very uncharacteristic of him & apparently no word of really bad news and since he was cycling in India then my immediate thoughts are that he may have had an accident and is lying/recoveing in some hospital somewhere near where his last communications were made. Maybe a government list of appropriate hospitals that one could contact would be a good place to start in this rather urgent search process.

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machadinha

Don't mean this to sound cynical (and I take it you're on the road yourself, and good luck with it all by all means), but a web search on the guy's name throws up nothing on his being missing.

Suggest getting the word out on some other relevant forums; you'll find links to some other major travel boards in the "links" link in my signature, but there'll likely be some specialized in international bicycling and so on as well.

Again, good luck with it; if you think of any further details that may be helpful, just post them here, or notify others close to him of this thread, in case they have further info.

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PeakXV

Also it might be good to contact mumbai cycle clubs who might have some valuable-possible route information that is more commomly used between there and further south.

A missing person poster campaign might be wise for the planning as well.

machadinha

On general approaches re: Poster design and so on, try also the earlier (albeit so far unsuccessful...):

Backpacker missing in India: Ryan Chambers.
MISSING czech botanist in Ladakh-more info

There appears to exist a Cycle Federation of India that I've never found a website for; some details at:
http://www.infohub.com/Destinations/...ndia/91950.htm
http://www.visaexpress.net/india/around_india.htm
Possibly (?) at http://users.cobweb.com.au/~gloria/india_north.htm
And probably at other sites as well.

This forum focuses on motorized transport in India, however they have a very good reputation and I imagine a query there won't go amiss: http://www.team-bhp.com/

Good luck again.

ninasimone

Zoltan, had been following this on the other site. Was wondering if there was any updates? Also welcome to India Mike. I think you may have given me my first piece of travel advice a couple of years ago before I set off to India.

zoltan

Hi Nina

> I think you may have given me my first piece of travel advice a couple of years ago before I set off to India.

and thanks... I hope it helped in some way :-)

As far as JB's disappearance goes, there has been no word. I just did a quick check on LP's web-site & there have been no new posts of any kind.

I truly feel for the family, the son has disappeared and there is no contact of any kind and, it seems that the police are not able (or perhaps don't have the resources to assist).

JB's brother (Vincent), sent me a couple of posters in PDF format, which he had hoped people may be willing to print out & ask that they be put up at guest-houses & hotels that tourists may be visiting. They have been written in Marathi & Hindi.

If anyone is heading over to India (primarily Mumbai or the Northern states) and, they don't mind printing out a few copies of the missing persons page, please drop me an e-mail (or send me a private message with your e-mail address) & I'll forward a copy of the posters to you to.

And as much as this may be long-shot (that someone will recognise him or the bike from the posters), at least it's an attempt to try & find him on behalf of the family.

Two final notes:

1) Even though it's now been close to four months since Jean-Baptiste went missing, one of my friends from Mumbai indicated that it's possible that he may be staying with someone, a family or a charitable organisation, who are providing food and support for JB during his time in India, not knowing that he is listed as missing.

2) His visa expired abour one month ago, so I've no doubt that he will be picked up by the authorities as soon as he raises his head above the radar - but this could see him incarcerated and may cause further problems, unless the French Embassy are made aware of the situation.

Thanks to anyone who can offer some assistance in this matter.

Cheers
Zoltan

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zoltan

Interesting to read that Ryan Chambers, who went missing 2.5 years ago, may have been seen in Goa.

There is still hope that JB may yet turn up alive somewhere, eeking out an existence doing something out of character.

vincenttalleu

It was reported that Jean-Baptiste might have been seen at Mapusa (Goa) also spelled Mapuca, Mhapsa ou Mapsa on the 10th of february.

http://missingjeanbaptistetalleu.blog spot.com/

There is no certainty that it is him, but we never know.

If anybody lives locally or knows someone who lives in the area, please put some posters or if you see this person, report him to the local police, who has already been informed by the consulate.

zoltan

The information below, came to me from a friend of the Talleu family. It is posted (in full), in the hope that someone (anyone), may be able to offer some assistance to the family.

* * *
Little progress on this front - hopefully a judge/prosecutor (I don't know how you call this person in Australia: it's a kind of judge who is supposed to supervise the searches etc.) should be appointed this week, so things should move more quickly from then on.
Two days again, Marie-Claire and Pierre received an email from a Frenchman -who often goes to India- who claims having seen somebody who might look like Jean-Baptiste in Mapusa, close to Goa, on 10 February. This person only saw the missing person's appeal a few days ago, hence the delay in telling anybody about this sighting. Here is a translation of what he saw :

I met a young man who might be -I say might be because I don't want to give you false hopes- Jean-Baptiste. I was in Mapusa, in the Goa State, some 650 km South of Mumbai. It's a market town, and a road station. The young Westerner I saw had the same build as your son, only his hair was slightly shorter.
I saw him on 10 February. He looked quite disconnected from real life, like some Westerners can be in India. What I mean is that he was bare feet, quite dirty, dishewelled, dressed with some orange material around him. I got closer because I could see he was in a different world.
He was twisting a 20 ruppie note in his fingers and speaking to himself. I walked passed him twice.
The second time, I tried to approach him, but he seemed quite agressive, and his movements were quite jirky.

He then goes on to explain that he didn't have time to tell the police about it then, and is very apologetic, and then explains how a number of Westeners get quite muddled in India, but usually manage to get back to normal life after a while -as you have pointed out yourself a number of times.

From what I understand, the French police, whom Marie-Claire and Pierre told about this straightaway, have already alerted the Goa police, which should be following things there.

Of course, nobody knows whether this is Jean-Baptiste or not, and a few things don't quite match with what he is normally like (JB was a very nice, balanced boy, quiet, never agresssive, and who never dabbled in alcohol or smoke, let alone in drugs); but given what you and others have said about the potential impact of the culture shock in India, it could very well be him.
Having read what you sent me about this Ryan Chambers, it could well be him too (both sightings are in the Goa state, and just a few weeks apart...); I hope the police will soon be able to find out whether this person might be Ryan, Jean-Baptiste or somebody else.

I think I might not to tell the Talleus about Ryan Chambers now, because of the strange coincidence between the sighting mentioned on Indian Mike and the one made by this Frenchman: although the Talleus are not very hopeful about this latter sighting, I feel it's important that they should hope at least a bit, be it just to have the strength to continue to nag the French and Indian police, and the French embassy staff. Do let me know though if you think it would be better for me to tell them about it.

Many thanks for all your help.

Bon courage pour ta semaine de travail,

* * *
Cheers
Zoltan

capt_mahajan

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