Spanish police are increasingly concerned for the safety of Irish teenager Amy Fitzpatrick (15) who went missing from her home on the Costa del Sol, near Malaga.
The girl's family yesterday made a public appeal for her safe return.
The teenager was last seen on New Year's Day at 10pm when she left a friend's house in the Costa del Sol resort of Calahonda, where she had been babysitting.
She started the walk to her home, about 1.5 miles away, but has not been seen since. She had called her mother from her friend's house earlier to wish her a happy new year.
Originally from Coolock in Dublin, the missing teenager has been living in the area with her mother Audrey (39), brother Dean (17) and their step-father Dave Mahon (36) for five years.
The Guardia Civil is treating the case as a missing person inquiry but said there is increasing concern for Amy's safety.
Amy is described as 1.65 metres in height, very thin, with blue eyes and dark hair.
Yesterday, her mother Audrey said: "I'm just terrified someone has got Amy and is holding her against her will. If that's the case then please let her go. We just want Amy back. We are devastated and with every day that goes by, we are more and more worried that something has happened to her."
The girl's mother appealed to her to come back if she had decided to run away.
Sniffer dogs and helicopters have been used in recent days to search for Amy and posters have been put up locally.
Her mother Audrey's sisters, Bernadine and Barbara, and niece, Nicola, flew in from Dublin yesterday.
Amy is believed to have had no passport or money with her when she disappeared.
"She is a very popular girl and has a lot of friends in the area," said her cousin Nicola yesterday at a press conference without questions, El Paísnewspaper reports today.
Amy was first reported missing to the Guardia Civil on January 3 rd. But in the absence of clues, the family decided to make a public appeal yesterday.
They particularly appealed to young people, especially friends of the girl, British and Scottish, and asked them to ring numbers 062, 112 or 636 07 96 19 if they have any information. They also requested support from the British press, El Paíssaid.
The newspaper said that although the family has lived for several years in the Costa del Sol they have "scarcely any dealings with Spanish citizens, like most of their compatriots in the area".