Security and law enforcement agencies in Israel and Austria continue to search for Mali and Liel Yahalomi, the Israeli mother and daughter who have been missing since last Friday in Vienna, Austria.
The two were scheduled to return to Israel on Tuesday on a flight from Prague, but failed to arrive for the flight, further increasing concerns for their safety.
An Israeli representative to Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, arrived in Vienna on Tuesday to assist in the search efforts.
As part of the investigation conducted by the Israel Police and local police, the mother and daughter's phones were geolocated last Shabbat near a train station in the city. The two are observant Jews, and the area of the train station where the phones were traced to covers a large public area that also includes a park.
The family submitted a complaint to the Modi'in Police on Tuesday reporting the disappearance. Since then, the police have been working alongside the Austrian Federal Police, Mossad officials, the Foreign Ministry, and the Israeli Embassy in Vienna in an attempt to find a clue that would lead to their location.
At the same time, hospitals in the area were checked, among other measures, to determine whether the two women had arrived at any of them and been registered as unidentified patients. However, the checks yielded no findings that led to their whereabouts being determined.
A source in the police told Haaretz that the reason for their disappearance is unknown. "This was a totally innocent visit. There is no reason for them to disappear. We are using all means together with all relevant security bodies in an attempt to find them."
As part of the investigation, authorities also looked into the possibility that the mother and daughter were involved in a traffic accident. That possibility was ruled out after it was discovered that the two travelled by train.
During the search, police entered the apartment where the two had stayed, but their belongings were not there, which may indicate that they had left the apartment and intended to continue on their way.