Missing Italian man in Sabah took ferry to Zamboanga City

The Star Online reported that William Bocchi was believed to boarded the ferry Danica Joy in Sandakan on October 14 and since then have not been heard off.

Bocchi, who arrived in Malaysia through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on October 12, flew over to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah the following day before making a connecting flight to Lahad Datu.

Lahad Datu businessman Sia Yiik Huon had reported Bocchi’s disappearance on October 20 after being alerted by a friend in Kuala Lumpur who received an email from Bocchi’s colleague, known as Fabio, who said the missing Italian was due to return home on October 16.

Sia said Bocchi, who is in the financial service business and a sales representative for a compressor distributor, was supposed to have met a client in Lahad Datu.

According to the report, Bocchi was last seen arriving at the Lahad Datu airport on October 13 from Kota Kinabalu and police had since determined that the businessman had taken a bus from there to Sandakan the same day.
In Sandakan, Bocchi checked into a hotel in the downtown area at about 9.25 p.m. on October 13 and left the following day.

Sabah police said it was Bocchi’s first visit to Sabah. The Star Online said the Italian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had been kept abreast of efforts to locate Bocchi. The Embassy has been keeping in touch with Bocchi’s family.

In Zamboanga City, the Bureau of Immigration said it will check its records to see whether Bocchi has arrived here. “We will have to check all our records to verify whether he really entered Zamboanga City from Sabah or not,” Sitti Rubaina Lutian, the regional immigration head, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

She said the ferry regularly plies Sandakan and Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner and The Star Online)