Muscovite Regina Makhmudova Vanishes Off Vietnam Beach

The stepfather of 25-year-old Muscovite Regina Makhmudova, who went missing in Vietnam in June 2026, told MSK1.RU about the events of that evening. The family had planned the trip as a vacation, during which they intended to celebrate Regina«s and her mother»s birthdays.

According to Boris, nothing foreshadowed trouble on the day of the disappearance. On the morning of June 14, Regina and her mother went on a tour, and by evening the family returned to the hotel in a good mood.

“They had been on the excursion since eight in the morning, spent the whole day wonderfully. They returned around six in the evening. Then at about half past eight we went to dinner, and afterward sat by the pool. Somewhere around eleven at night Regina said she wanted to go to the beach,” the missing woman«s stepfather, Boris, told MSK1.RU.

According to him, something similar had already happened a few days before she disappeared. Back then Regina also wanted to take a nighttime walk to the sea.

“She said: ‘I«m going to the beach.’ Mom refused to go, and I decided to walk her there. She quickly ran ahead, and I followed. When I came out of the palm grove, I saw her sitting on a swing by the shore. I came closer, and she came back to the villa on her own. So on June 14 I thought she was just going to those swings again,” the man recalls.

He again went after Regina.

“She ran, and I walked. When I came out of the palm grove, it was very dark — no moon, nothing. At some point I heard her voice from the direction of the water. She only shouted: ‘Uncle Borya!’ — and nothing more,” Boris said.

The man immediately rushed toward the ocean.

“I«m 62 years old, my legs are bad, but I instinctively ran. I shouted: ‘Regina! Regina!’ I went into the water, and a wave immediately washed over me. The ocean began to pull me deeper. I barely made it back to shore, ran along the water in one direction and then the other, but Regina was nowhere to be seen,” he says.

At first Boris thought the girl might have returned to the hotel on her own.

“I ran back and asked my wife whether Regina had come. It turned out she hadn«t. Then we both ran to the beach again. Hotel staff joined us. We searched for her until morning, but found no trace.”

According to the man, hotel staff called the police. Law enforcement, military personnel and rescuers arrived in the morning and set up a search headquarters.

“They searched for seven days. But they found neither a body nor any belongings, no trace at all. After that the search was stopped,” Boris said.

“We don«t believe it should end there”

On June 20, Regina«s mother and stepfather returned to Russia. Immediately afterward they went to the police.

According to Boris, the relatives were sure that Russian law enforcement agencies were cooperating with their colleagues in Vietnam, but later learned that a criminal case had been refused.

“We filed a statement, they took Regina«s DNA. We thought the police were handling the matter. But then it turned out that back in July we had been refused, and no one even informed us. Now we have turned to lawyers to appeal the refusal and get the work continued,” he said.

Although the official version is that the girl died in the sea, the family does not rule out other possibilities. According to Boris, after consulting with lawyers they learned of cases in which disappearances during a storm could be linked to crimes.

“We were told there are theories that young women could be abducted precisely during a strong storm or on a very dark night, so that later everything would look as if the person had drowned and the body had been carried away by the sea. So we cannot rule out that possibility either. As long as there is no evidence of what happened to Regina, we want to check every possible version,” the girl«s stepfather says.

That is why, according to Boris, the family is now looking for a private detective who could conduct an independent investigation and help establish the circumstances of Regina«s disappearance.

“She really wanted to fly again”

Before the trip to Vietnam, Regina lived in Moscow. For about three years she worked as a flight attendant, then moved to Bali with her boyfriend for several months.

Later the girl returned to Russia and again decided to work in aviation.

“She really wanted to work as a flight attendant again. She submitted documents, underwent training, waited for vacancies to appear. But she simply didn«t have time,” Boris said.

According to him, Regina was an open and sociable person.

“She had many friends. She was a kind, cheerful girl,” the man said.

According to Boris, Regina«s mother is suffering most of all right now. She is struggling to cope with her daughter»s disappearance and is constantly on pills. Despite this, the family continues to hope that Regina will be found.

The MSK1.RU editorial team has sent a request to the police to find out whether an investigation is being conducted into the girl«s disappearance.

Earlier, a 13-year-old girl was searched for three days in the Moscow region. She disappeared in Pushchino near Serpukhov and was found 150 kilometers from home, in Staraya Kupavna, in the company of an unknown 22-year-old man. MSK1.RU gathered all the details of that story in a separate feature.