SHANGHAI - Shanghai tourism authorities started emergency procedures on Thursday following the kidnap of female tourist in Malaysia.

A statement published at about 2 pm on Shanghai's microblog asks all travel agencies to warn outbound tourists of safety concerns.

A woman named Xu went to Shanghai police at about 12 a.m. on Thursday, claiming she lost contact with her daughter, now believed to have been kidnapped when travelling in the Malaysian state of Sabah.

The girl Gao, 29, has been granted admittance to a British university and recently quit her job with a Japanese company. She was travelling independently in Malaysia. Her uncle confirmed she was travelling with a friend: "She travelled a lot recently and booked her flight before Spring Festival. She left Shanghai on Tuesday afternoon and phoned her mom to report her safe arrival on Wednesday evening."

A staff member at the Malaysian consulate general in Shanghai told Xinhua that they heard the news this morning, but did not receive any details. He said Sabah was a hot tourist destination, but "a few dangerous things" had happened there before.

Last year, Taiwan's businessman Li Min Shu, 58, was killed on Pom-Pom Island Resort in Semporna and his wife Chang An Wei, 57, taken by gunmen while they travelled in Sabah.