BATU PAHAT, Jan 15 — Efforts to find a missing teacher Musthafa Kamal Abdullah, 49, who went missing while performing the umrah pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, more than a month ago, continue, said his eldest son, Muhammad Nabil Musthafa.

Muhammad Nabil, 26, said that he will be leaving for Mecca this Friday (January 20) and will be there for 14 days.

He will be accompanied by his younger brother, Muaz, 17, and several friends of his father, to continue searching for Musthafa, as his family, including their mother, Zurina Muhammad @ Shamsuddin, 49, are confident that their father is still alive.

"I personally will be distributing posters of our ‘babah’ (father) when I am in Mecca. I will be performing umrah too and I hope the efforts will lead us to him.

"I also hope that my family’s efforts and hopes to find babah will continue to receive cooperation from the governments of both countries (Malaysia and Saudi Arabia),” he said when the family received a visit from Sri Gading Member of Parliament, Aminolhuda Hassan, at their residence in Sri Gading here today.

Meanwhile, Muaz, who was performing umrah with Musthafa when the latter went missing on December 12 last year, said that he only realised the incident after discovering his father was not in his hotel room after complaining of being unwell, and did not perform the tawaf ritual with him.

On Friday, Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, reportedly said that the Malaysian representatives (Malawakil) in Saudi Arabia were closely monitoring the situation, and will take appropriate action to help locate the missing Malaysian pilgrim. — Bernama