Miss Vietnam 'missing'

By Clare Arthurs
BBC, Hanoi

Police in Vietnam are searching for the country's top beauty queen, who has been missing for a week.

Ms Phuong disappeared after leaving a language class

The family of young student, Pham Thi Mai Phuong, believes she has been kidnapped.

Local newspapers report Ms Phuong - Vietnam's first ever entrant to the Miss World pageant - was bundled into a car by a group of men as she left an English-language class.

Her mother says the family has received death threats, but no ransom demand has been made.

Local newspaper reports suggest a jealous man could be involved in Ms Phuong's disappearance.

High prospects

Pham Thi Mai Phuong had been studying English in preparation for taking up a scholarship to study business at Luton University in England.

She disappeared after leaving a language class in Haiphong, a major port city on Vietnam's north coast.

Haiphong police say they are investigating.

The national beauty queen was Vietnam's first Miss World entrant, competing for the title in London last year after the contest was moved from Nigeria following local protests.

At one time the ruling Communist Party banned beauty contests because they were seen as promoting undesirable values.