A Norwegian teenager reported missing after a night out was killed in a lorry hit-and-run crash in Spain’s Costa del Sol.
The mum of 17-year-old Nikoline went to police after launching an appeal on social media, saying her daughter had vanished from popular Puerto Banus nightclub Funky Buddha around 4am yesterday morning.
Today it emerged she was the person who died just before 5.30am the same day after being hit on the A7 motorway near Cala de Mijas, around 30 minutes outside Marbella.
A witness who made the 999 call said a woman had been hit by a lorry whose driver fled the scene.
The missing teenager wasn’t carrying any ID, but police confirmed it was her after further inquiries following her family’s decision to report her disappearance.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
Detectives are believed to be hunting the driver of the vehicle, with no reports of any arrests being made yet.
News of the incident had already emerged yesterday morning but it was not until much later in the day the identity of the female killed was confirmed.
British holidaymakers and expats were asked to look out for the Norwegian teenage holidaymaker in an appeal Nikoline’s mum first published around midday yesterday, hours after Norway beat Brazil 2-1 to reach the World Cup finals for the first time.
The teenager, who lived in Norway with her biological father, had been holidaying in the area since June 19 and had been due to return home the day she disappeared to attend a close friend’s birthday party after staying with family in the Fuengirola area.
Her mum told police she went out with friends in a bar in Calahonda between Marbella and Fuengirola before heading to Marbella’s old town and then getting a taxi with a group of fellow Norwegians to the Funky Buddha club.
She is understood to have vanished while a female friend went to the toilet between 3am and 4am yesterday.
Her mobile phone connection revealed Nikoline was on Julio Iglesias Avenue near the nightspot, a busy road in daytime, which runs behind the Puerto Banus marina, at around 3.30am, but after that it stopped transmitting.
Her family’s last contact with Nikoline is believed to have been around 1.30am local time yesterday morning.
Before contacting police in Fuengirola, Nikoline’s mum and her stepdad combed the port area for her without success.
She told Spanish media yesterday afternoon: ‘Every time she stays out late, she tends to maintain contact with us.’
Her mum’s missing appeal with a picture of Nikoline has now been removed from social media.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.