Cops find missing student Amelia Bambridge’s rucksack on rocks after she vanished from Cambodia beach party

THE purple rucksack belonging to missing British backpacker Amelia Bambridge has been found.

Amelia, 21, disappeared after attending a beach party on the popular tourist island of Koh Rong, Cambodia, on Wednesday night.

Police, scuba divers, government officials and volunteers joined the search today for the missing tourist.

They were also using a drone to scour the dense jungle and coastline.

Amelia’s purple backpack was pictured on rocks close to the shore where it was found after she disappeared in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Police also revealed her belongings were still in the bag, while her passport was at the hostel, a 40 minute walk from the beach where she was last seen.

The items in her bag included a small purse, several packs of over-the-counter medication, her mobile phone, a phone charger, headphones, bank cards, a watch, a lighter, a pen, a tourist SIM

Her mum has also joined the search to find her daughter who disappeared in Cambodia.

Linda Bambridge, 52, is hoping her daughter got “lost on her way back” to her hostel through dense forest in the Far Eastern country.

Amelia, from Worthing, West Sussex, was travelling alone for the first time.

She was last seen at a beach party in Koh Rong, in the south west of the country, at 3am on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old was due to check out of her hostel at noon yesterday to leave the island later in the afternoon with a friend.

She has been declared officially missing by local authorities.

As she prepared to leave Linda, 52, said: “I have got numbers of people to contact in Cambodia.

“I’m going to Bangkok, getting another flight to the country, then transport from the capital to the coastline.

“From there I will get a ferry, hopefully arriving at 2pm tomorrow afternoon local time.”

Amelia’s handbag, which had her purse, phone and bank cards in it, was found on the beach after a party held on Wednesday night. Her passport is still at the hostel, the Nest Beach Club.

It is understood there are no lights from the beach to the Nest Beach Club, which is 40 minutes away.

The area is also thickly forested.

Amelia’s sister Georgie, 19, is close to her and said Amelia would message the family whenever she had wifi.

She said: “She is strong minded, really sensible and very organised.

“She spent the last year Googling solo female travelling, looking at pages and blogs and sorting out everything.

“I’m just in shock, she has never done anything like this before.

“I spoke to her Wednesday and she normally messages us every now and then, every time she got wifi.

“I told her to put loads of pictures online to see what she was up to.

“It’s horrendous but we need to be positive and she needs to be found.”

Amelia left the UK last month after completing an apprenticeship.

It is her first time travelling on her own.

Ryan Harris, 18, who was part of the group travelling the Asian country with the 21-year-old, raised the alarm.

Ryan had moved on to another island with plans to link back up with Amelia.

He said: “She was one of the first people I met over here about a week ago.

“I met her in Phnom Penh and we got the boat to Koh Rong, we all spent a few days together and met up with a few other people in a big group.

“We went on to a neighbouring island but she stayed there with another girl I know who had travelled with us on the boat over.

“I then had to travel back to Koh Rong after leaving my passport at the hostel and when I got there two people told me she had gone missing.

Ryan explained that the hostel held passports to ensure customers paid the bill but Amelia had not gone back for hers.