More married men are abandoning their families as they "disappear" overseas without a word, reported The Straits Times.

Eight private investigation firms The Straits Times spoke to say they are getting inquiries on more such cases. Of these, half say they each get up to 50 inquiries every year, twice the number five years ago.

Like the case of Mr Robert Lee, a 40-year-old construction worker whose last trip brought him to Vietnam in September last year.

In the same report by The Straits Times, Mr Lee was last known to have taken some documents from the family safe, and promising his three young daughters that he would return for good in a month's time.

But he did not show up again.

Now, his seven-year-old daughter, Sally, cries for him every night and writes letters in her childish scrawl, pleading for her father to return home.

These 'missing' men, mostly in their 40s to 50s, usually have found a new love - and life overseas. Some would have also cashed out their CPF savings. They may stay in touch with their families in Singapore for the first few months, but will suddenly cut off all means of communication with them later.

Mrs Lee suspects that was exactly what happened to her husband, though she has no proof. After all, the couple does not fight over money and married life was relatively trouble-free.

Some women, who can afford private investigators' fees that can run up to as much as $500 a day, pay to find out where their errant husbands have gone. But not all can do so.

Names of the families in this story have been changed.