OK, I've spoken to my girlfriend about this - she used to work with the Red Cross's International Tracing and Messaging (ITMS) department. Her strong recommend

OK, I've spoken to my girlfriend about this - she used to work with the Red Cross's International Tracing and Messaging (ITMS) department. Her strong recommendation is that anyone in the situation you describe should talk to the US Red Cross as soon as possible. Their ITMS department will either be able to help or point him to someone who can. They've got considerable expertise in this area.