A JOHANNESBURG mother whose daughter disappeared 10 days ago is praying that she will return home safely.

Theo Sambinda's daughter Cindy, 18, of Croydon in Kempton Park, went missing on January 4.

"When I returned from work my helper told me that my daughter had been out the whole afternoon and did not say where she was going. When it got late, I called her on her cellphone and she said she was coming home.

"But she seemed uncomfortable to speak," saidSambinda.

The distraught mother of three told Sowetan yesterday that on the day her daughter disappeared she had spent part of the morning on the computer chatting with friends on Facebook.

She said a friend of Cindy's, who had spent the afternoon with her, told her that her daughter had been receiving calls the whole afternoon.

"He told me she had been getting numerous calls. But when he asked who was calling, Cindy said it was a Tshepo from Soweto, who wanted to meet her at 6pm but she was not keen to meet him," Sambinda said.

She said she believed Cindy met her kidnappers on Facebook. Sambinda said four days later she received a "please call" message from her daughter.

"When I called her she was crying and told me her abductors were not giving her food and she was becoming weak. She said she was in a dark room and did not know where she was because she was not allowed to go outside."

Sambinda said Cindy, a Grade 11 pupil at Edenglen High School, told her she did not know the people who had abducted her. They spoke a language she did not understand.

Sebenza police station commander Superintendent Michelle Toohey said: "No one has been arrested but investigations arecontinuing."