Search for missing half-blind 80-year-old

Friends, family and police are searching for an 80-year-old grandmother who has been missing from Madinat Zayed since Wednesday night. Maryam Ismail Abdullah has not been seen since telling her family she was going out to visit friends. She never made it to the friends' house. "We have been looking for her for five days. She is blind in one eye and can't walk long distances," said her grandson, Khalifa al Khalil.

According to Mr al Khalil, 30, his grandmother is 165cm tall and weighs 63kg. "When she left the house she was wearing a black abaya and burqa with gold lacing and was wearing a purple dress. We are very distraught and have not been able to sleep for the past few days." Mr al Khalil said CID officers and uniformed police have been combing the area in Madinat Zayed since her disappearance but have found no clues as to where she might have gone.

News of Mrs Abdullah's disappearance spread quickly when an Abu Dhabi policewoman sent a message to a number of people through the BlackBerry messenger service asking the public to be on the lookout for her and to forward the message to everyone they know. @Email:ealghalib@thenational.ae