By Neelam Rahim

Up to twenty people, including five children, remain missing in Venezuela after going on a spiritual retreat led by a woman who says Mother Mary told her the world was on the brink of end.

Rosa García, 57, is claimed to have initially persuaded as many as 40 people within the Táchira town of Los Angeles Grita to join on her trip to Juan Pablo Peñaloza national park on August 22, according to La Nacion newspaper.

García allegedly told the group that they might be having a spiritual encounter with God or the Mother Mary at an unknown area within the park located along the border of the western states of Táchira and Mérida.

They were expected to return Thursday and were reported missing later that day after they did not show up at their homes.

Authorities said Wednesday that nine of the individuals missing are from the same family and that the group is travelling in two vehicles.

During a mass held Sunday at the La Grita Minor Basilica of the Holy Spirit, Father Jesús Mora warned the congregation to be aware of people like García who could do more harm than good.

‘You need to be fearful of fanatics, because a fanatic can do lots of harm,’ Mora said.

García isn’t married and administered her station at a food stand owned by her sister Teresa García – one amongst her 13 siblings.

She allegedly influenced Teresa to affix the retreat with her husband, two children, son-in-law and grandson.

The mayor of the area said that the families’ disappearance was “very suspicious”. “There are several theories [of what may have happened] but we cannot know what really happened until the investigations are concluded,” the official added.