THE frantic family of a man who vanished two weeks ago during a mercy dash to a Ukrainian hospital fear he may have been abducted or even killed.

Nigel Swain, who lives with his elderly parents in Poole, has not spoken to his family since leaving the UK via the Channel Tunnel last month.

His bank account has also been emptied and one possible theory is that he has fallen victim to a dating scam linked to Ukraine’s mafia underworld.

The 46-year-old lift engineer, who was working in Brighton hours before heading to mainland Europe on June 28, penned a letter to his parents days after they reported him missing to Dorset Police.

This letter, which his brother David confirmed is in Nigel’s handwriting, explains how he received a text message informing him his former Ukrainian girlfriend, Kristina, was seriously ill in a Kiev hospital.

However, David believes his brother may have written the letter under duress.

“This sounds a bit dramatic, but somebody could have had a gun to his head when this was written,” said David.

Nigel’s letter, dated June 29 and given to a French truck driver to post, arrived in Poole early last week.

It details how he abandoned his car in Paris and took a flight straight to Kiev after receiving the text message.

However, upon arrival at the hospital it became apparent Kristina – who he met through the internet and travelled to the Ukraine to visit over a five-year period until Christmas 2010 – was not a patient.

Then the letter tells of how he woke up after being mugged with only his car keys and one bank card remaining.

These were then bizarrely posted back to his parents with the letter, which stated Nigel was set to travel 300 miles from Kiev to Kristina’s home town.

When his parents checked his bank accounts all Nigel’s money had been withdrawn.

Sister Terena Conachie, from Somerset, told the Daily Echo: “To not get in touch is simply not in Nigel’s nature. I think something has happened to him.

“I’m thinking the worst, that is my gut feeling. Every day has been a struggle.

“I have tried everything I can. Every number we have tried in connection with him either goes straight to voicemail or is unobtainable.

“We fear something sinister has happened.”

In a bizarre twist at the weekend, Terena, David and their brother Mark all had text messages purporting to come from Kristina saying she had not seen Nigel or heard from him.

A number of foreign nationals have been extorted out of thousands of pounds by dating scams linked to organised crime in the former Soviet state, it has been reported.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office says the Ukraine, which was visited by 67,000 British Nationals last year, does suffer from street crime, particularly in Kiev and other urban centres.

There are reports of foreign nationals being violently attacked, even murdered.

Nigel’s brother David said: “Nigel is the sort of person who if he’s going to be late for his tea, he would be on the phone straight away. This so out of character.”

Dorset Police have launched a missing persons investigation and the Foreign Office has been notified. This weekend Interpol said they would now get involved in the hunt for David said the family.