Police have made several arrests in connection with the disappearance of a British primary school teacher in Qatar, local authorities said.
Doha police said they cannot confirm whether Lauren Patterson had died or what had happened to her. Credit: Facebook
Lauren Patterson, 24, was reportedly last seen leaving a five-star hotel in Doha with a group of men in the early hours of Saturday and is feared dead.
In a statement on the Gulf state's Ministry of Interior website, officials said: "The police has arrested the suspects of a European woman's murder.
"The case has been referred to Public Prosecution to complete further judicial procedures applicable in this regard."
Doha police said they cannot confirm whether Lauren Patterson had died or what had happened to her. Credit: Facebook
The mother and boyfriend of a British primary school teacher feared dead after going missing in Qatar have paid emotional eulogies to her on Facebook.
Lauren Patterson disappeared in Doha in the early hours of Saturday. Local media claim she was last seen outside the city's five-star La Cigale hotel.
Her mother Allison Patterson, who is reported to have flown to Doha, wrote: "Thank you so much to everyone for all their wonderful words about Lauren. She was a truly remarkable girl my rock always there for everyone. I know she's in heaven now in her Daddy's arms."
The 24-year-old's boyfriend, James Grima, from Malta, wrote: "You really were the most smart, kind, beautiful and amazing woman I've ever met."
The family and friends of a 24-year-old British teacher missing in Doha have expressed fears for her safety.
Friends of Lauren Patterson shared this picture of her on Facebook in an attempt to find her. Credit: Facebook
Lauren Patterson, who teaches at a local primary school, went missing shortly after returning to Qatar on Friday from the UK, where she had attended her grandmother's funeral, according to her friends.
The Foreign Office said they were aware of British national reported misssng in Qatar, and that they were providing the family with consular assistance.
The triplets' parents, Jane and Martin Weekes, had been in Qatar for the past five years. They returned to Wellington to give birth to the triplets after they were conceived using IVF.
According to TVNZ, Jane won a 'Best Mum in Doha' competition for her effort raising the triplets. She had commented: "A mother's love is not divided amongst her children, but multiplied by each child."
On her profile page on the parenting website BabyCenter.com, Jane said she was at her happiest when her children sat around "laughing like loons at each other".
Qatar's Interior Ministry has reported that the 13 children killed in a fire at a shopping mall in the capital city of Doha, were trapped inside of a nursery in the complex. In a press conference this evening the Ministry said:
At 11.34 am, the concerned agency in the Ministry received another call about trapping of about 20 children in a nursery inside the mall, where the fire was broken out and immediately the civil defense team started evacuation process, focusing on the rescue of the children as much as possible [...]
Due to the dense smoke and high temperature inside the mall, the firefighters faced difficulty in accessing to the nursery.
Fire fighters accessed the place of children through the ceiling of the mall and rescue personnel spent great and painstaking efforts in order to save the children and staffers trapped in the nursery, as a result, two men from the Civil Defense were martyred while they were carrying out their noble mission.
Qatar's Interior Ministry have reported on their Twitter account that two firefighters have died in their effort to rescue children trapped in a fire today at a Doha shopping complex.
The Ministry said that they were only alerted later that children were trapped inside and firefighter then had to go in through the ceiling.
Reports that among the 13 children killed in a fire in Qatar's capital of Doha, four were of Spanish nationality, diplomatic sources in Madrid has said.
Qatar's Interior Ministry did not disclose the nationalities of the dead, but admitted that there were Europeans among them. A ministry official told journalists none of the dead were Qataris.
Many expatriates live in Qatar, a gas and oil-rich Gulf Arab state with one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire at the Villagio Mall in Doha Credit: Reuters/StringerEmergency personnel evacuate a person via helicopter during a fire at the Villagio Mall, in Doha's west end Credit: Reuters/Stringer
