Girls missing since Dec 4

THE parents of two French schoolgirls who have been on the run since the beginning of December have renewed their appeal for police help and witnesses.

Camille Lauran, 16, and Geneviève Euvrard, 17, have not been seen since they left Puy-en-Velay in the Ardèche on December 4. They wrote a letter to their parents from Toulouse a week later claiming they were well. Their mobile phones are switched off.

Geneviève's mother, Sylvie, fears the letter was written under duress and the girls have been kidnapped. She says she has received little help from the police.

All of the parents have written a joint letter to the public prosecutor asking for the girls' photos to be more widely circulated and calling for more assistance in finding them.