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PM admits mistakes made in missing girl case

oranjestad, aruba (ap)

ARUBA'S PRIME MINISTER admitted that authorities made mistakes at the start of the investigation of the Natalee Holloway case, the missing teen's mother said yesterday.

Beth Holloway Twitty, who has often criticised authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island since her a daughter disappeared on May 30, met in private with Prime Minister Nelson Oduber over the weekend.

"I think that he's in absolute agreement that the initial investigation has been so badly botched," Holloway Twitty said on NBC's Today show.

Government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said yesterday that the prime minister had expressed concerns about the initial investigation, though he used more cautious language.

"The prime minister agreed that in the beginning the case could have been better handled," Trapenberg said. "He didn't say it had been 'botched."'

The 18-year-old Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen leaving a bar with three young local men on the final night of a high school graduation trip to Aruba.

Police and hundreds of volunteers have searched the island, but found no trace of her.