A Brazilian woman found near Paris after being missing for more than a fortnight has said she was locked in an abandoned house but does not remember what happened.

Police officers found Fernanda Santos de Oliveira in her own apartment in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, on 22nd May after her disappearance was reported on 6th May.

The police had been tipped off by neighbours who saw the 44-year-old arrive home.

According to reports, Fernanda said she had left for work in the morning and had got lost.

Nellma Barreto, president of the “Femmes de la resistance” collective, told local media: “She said she was locked in an abandoned house all these days, in a place far away from Paris.

“She says she doesn’t remember by whom (she was locked) or where. She only remembers that someone gave her a paper with her home address, and then she simply returned.”

According to Nellma, Fernanda was found with injuries on her feet and wrists. She told local media: “She was wearing shoes, but her feet were very injured, as if she had walked a lot.

“She also has marks on her wrists, as if something was squeezing there. She doesn’t know what it was. She appears to be very weak, distressed, and debilitated.”

After being located, Fernanda was taken to Hotel-Dieu Hospital, where she underwent examinations to determine if she had suffered any kind of violence.

She has since been transferred to Sainte-Anne Hospital. Nellma said: “She will remain hospitalised for the next few days, receiving all the medical care she needs.”

According to the collective president, Fernanda’s bank card was used twice while she was missing, once on 16th May and again on 20th May.

But the Brazilian woman, whose family is travelling to Paris to bring her back home, has no recollection of this. The French police are investigating the case.

Nellma told local media: “It could have been a mental breakdown, where she walked, wandered through the streets, or she could have been held in captivity until this moment when, according to her, a paper with an address was given to her, and she managed to make it home.”

On 6th May, Fernanda left her apartment taking a handbag, an electric scooter, and her passport with her. She left her mobile phone at home.

Volunteers at Femmes de la resistance said she may have been experiencing sexual harassment at one of her jobs and this may have motivated her disappearance.

According to the police, she was spotted in Melun on 8th and 9th May.

Fernanda worked at a Portuguese restaurant in Paris and also worked two other jobs as a cleaner. She was living in France illegally and was trying to regularise her situation.

Before moving to Europe in April last year, she lived in Botucatu, Brazil. She is reportedly a trained nurse technician with a radiology course under her belt.

Fernanda has a 23-year-old son, a three-year-old granddaughter, and an 11-month-old grandson, according to her family.

Her sister, Maria Aparecida, told media in Brazil: “She only knew the youngest one through photos and videos; every Sunday, she would talk to them via video chat.”