Dad-of-two’s final phone call with wife before vanishing on day trip weeks ago

A missing dad-of-two called his wife to let him know he was coming home after a day out in London before vanishing two weeks ago.

Orhan Ekren, 48, was last seen in Camden on November 26 after taking a trip to the capital from Milton Keynes to renew his Visa.

After finishing his appointment, the university lecturer, who is originally from Turkey, told his wife Banu he was going to walk around the city as he ‘loves London so much’.

He then spent a few hours at a pub on the canalside, but after starting his journey back to Euston station he disappeared – and hasn’t been since.

Banu told Metro: ‘Orhan gave me a call after he was done with the Visa procedure around 11am, and he was going to walk around London.

‘He loves the city so much, and he was sending me and his friends pictures he was taking.

‘I was tracking him throughout the day on Life360, but by the evening he had stopped communicating with me and I have not heard from him since.’

Orhan texted his wife to let him know he was going to the pub, where he stayed for a few hours and was ‘definitely having fun’.

Banu called him to tell him to return home to Milton Keynes, and by 10.30pm he had started his journey back while she continued to track him to make sure he was okay.

But he suddenly ‘veered off the road’ and down a footpath by the canal, and his phone lost signal at 11.23pm.

Orhan’s clothes and backpack were both handed into the police, while sopping wet with canal water, but Banu said it is unclear how they managed to wash up on the banks on their own.

She said: ‘The backpack was heavy. It had his laptop and nearly a full bottle of whiskey inside, how does that just float to the side?’

Police have searched the canal twice, but Orhan has still not been found.

Banu said she and their two daughters, aged 14 and 10, are desperate to find out what has happened to him.

She said: ‘Everything Orhan had is there, but he is still missing. It is affecting our daughters so much that they don’t know where there dad is.

‘We just don’t know what has happened. Maybe he fell in the water but was able to get himself out and took off his clothes? Maybe he has lost his memory?

‘Even if not the outcome we are wanting we are hoping anyone who has seen him, maybe people who live on the canal, to let us know.’

The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police are increasingly concerned for the welfare of a man who has been missing for two weeks.

‘Orhan Ekren, 48, was last seen in the vicinity of Camden Market, near Camden Lock, at approximately 22:40hrs on Tuesday, 26 November.

‘He was wearing dark clothing and carrying a dark backpack, which was found near the canal the following day.

‘Orhan is of Turkish heritage and lives with his family in Milton Keynes.

‘Police are particularly keen to speak to people that live in the Camden area, or who might have been in the area at the time, or that have a barge moored on the canal.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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