September 22 Update at 13:00 – Official Croatian Police Statement confirming the identity of the mystery woman.
Story update, 09:00 September 22 – Mystery Woman in Croatia: Daniela from Slovakia?
September 21, 2021 – The extraordinary story of the English-speaking mystery woman on Krk with no memory continues to be unsolved. Some small additions to the story – a possible Scottish accent and some rescue photos provided by the Rijeka Croatian Mountain Rescue Service.
It is a story from Croatia’s biggest island which has gone all over the globe and yet has yet to provide a positive identity of the mystery woman on Krk, who was rescued from a remote part of the island. An English speaker, but with no memory of who she is or what happened to her. National media appeals looking for help to identify her have become international appeals, with publications such as CNN, Fox, the Daily Mail and The Guardian all featuring her story and the photo below. Almost 10 days after she was rescued, her identity has still not been made public, assuming she has even been identified.
In a Facebook post, the Rijeka branch of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service informed that they had received a call at 09:00 on the morning of September 12 to assist an injured person who could not be rescued by sea. The woman, believed to be in her 60s, was alone on a remote and very inaccessible part of the island of Krk, near the beach of Rudine. A local fisherman had seen her there the night before, then once again the following morning. According to the Mail Online, the following morning, she called out:
‘She was yelling in English ‘please, help’.
A team of 12 Croatian Mountain Rescue Service workers immediately set out to assist her.
They set out with 3 vehicles but had to park them some way off due to the rugged terrain. They found the English-speaking woman weak and disorientated, and they carried her by stretcher back to their vehicles. She was then handed over to the Emergency Medical Services and on to hospital in Rijeka where she is currently recovering.
The woman apparently has no recollection of who she is or how she got there, and there were no identifying documents in her possession.
One very strange aspect of this very strange story, especially given its global exposure in an era of social media, is not only that she has yet to be identified, but also that there is not any concrete information about the nature of her English accent. By identifying the accent as British, Australian or American, for example, the search could be narrowed.
A small clue was perhaps given to the Daily Mail by the fisherman who found her.
“He said his wife had spoken to her and he could ‘only guess that the accent could be Scottish’.”
Even the social media commentators, usually so quick to give opinions, are quiet on the issue of her identity. With nothing yet officially confirmed, the main suggestion at this stage is that she might be from Whitby, in the north of England, not far from Scotland, but I should emphasis that nothing has yet been confirmed, and social media comments are hardly the most reliable of sources.
If you have any information about the lady’s identify, please contact us at [email protected] and we will pass it on to the relevant authorities.
For more on the incredible work of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, meet some of its heroes.
