‘She was having the best time ever’: Sister of 21-year-old missing after beach party in Cambodia tells of last phone call

‘She knew everything and was living out her dream – she was happy,’ Amelia Bambridge’s sister Georgie says

A British backpacker who has been missing in Cambodia for days was “living out her dream” and having the “best time ever”, her sister has said.

Amelia Bambridge, 21, from Worthing, West Sussex, was last seen at a party on the island of Koh Rong late in the early hours of Thursday.

Staff at Police Beach, a private venue that stages regular events, found her purple rucksack containing her purse, phone and bank cards close to the shore later that day.

During a phone call with her younger sister, Georgie, hours before she disappeared, the 21-year-old said her first solo trip was “doing so much for her confidence” and she was having “the best time ever”.

Georgie Bambridge told Sky News: “She said ‘everyone is so cool here’ and couldn’t be happier.”

She added: “She’s literally wanted to go travelling her whole life.

“She has spent the past two years saving for it and spent the last year reading blogs of travellers, researching what she was going to do.

“She knew everything and was living out her dream – she was happy.”

She said her “role model” sister “would never drink to excess” and was “always in control”, adding: “She would always be looking out for me, it’s not like her to not look after herself.

“I just don’t know what’s happened.”

Ms Bambridge set off on her trip on 27 September, when she flew to Vietnam, her family said.

They were alerted to her disappearance after she failed to check out of the Nest Beach Club hostel.

Her passport remained at the hostel.

Local volunteers and Cambodian police have scoured the shoreline and jungle for the missing backpacker, and her family are also heading to Koh Rong to assist.

Ms Bambridge’s father and brother have already arrived on the island, and brother Harry wrote on Facebook on Sunday: “So I’ve landed in Cambodia, in a taxi to attempt to make the last ferry to the island, which is a five-hour taxi.

“I’m totally overwhelmed with everyone’s support and I can’t thank you all enough.”

In a different post, he added: “I seriously believe there is still hope for her to be found alive.”

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman previously said: “We are assisting the family of a British woman who has been reported missing in Cambodia and are in close contact with the Cambodian police.”

Additional reporting by Press Association