A nurse who had been missing for more than a week was yesterday found by police alive locked in the boot of her car.

Magdeline Makola was taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries, but was otherwise unharmed. She was detained overnight.

Police were last night trying to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Ms Makola, originally from South Africa, was last seen on the morning of December 15 in the car park of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where she worked in the cardiology department.

She spoke to a friend on the phone from her home in Livingston, West Lothian, on the night of December 17.

Concerns were first raised for her safety when she failed to turn up for her nursing shift the following day. Police were then contacted and a hunt was launched the next day to try and trace her after background and other formal checks were made.

When police searched her home, where she lived alone for the past four years, they found her work bag ready with her uniform and a packed lunch.

Her passport and bank cards were also in the house, but her car was gone. It was later seen on the M8 motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.

Friends and family said her disappearance was out of character and fears grew as she remained missing for more than a week.

Lothian and Borders Police said the 38-year-old nurse was found in Airdrie yesterday in the boot of a red Vauxhall Astra. She was taken to the town's Monklands Hospital for treatment.

Last night, her close friend Hannah Letsholo, a fellow South African nurse who has known Ms Makola for six years, said: "We are very relieved and happy that Magdeline has been found safe and well.

"We have been crying ever day since she disappeared. It was totally out of character. She didn't deserve this."

Mrs Letsholo, a bank nurse who has been in the UK for eight years, added: "We don't know what the Airdrie connection was at all. She is still in hospital and we are hoping to visit her tomorrow. I believe she only suffered scratches."

A police spokesman said that an incident room had been set up at Livingston police office.

He said: "Magdeline was discovered just after midday today by officers. At the moment this inquiry is at its very early stages. We need to establish the exact circumstances of how Magdeline came to be within the boot of the vehicle.

"We are appealing for anyone who may have seen Magdeline since she went missing last week to contact us.

"In particular, we want to hear from anyone who has seen the red-coloured Vauxhall Astra, registration Y295 SRS, being driven in the central belt since Magdeline was last seen on December 15.

"We believe that the vehicle has been driven in the Chapelhall area of Airdrie, and in Glasgow city centre as well."

A police source last night told The Herald that initial inquiries indicated that Ms Makola may be in the Airdrie area though he would not elaborate on why the Lanarkshire town was the focus of the search.

The source added only: "Inquiries were ongoing in the town for some days before she was found."

The car was found parked in Meadowside Place, Airdrie, next to a block of council flats and Drumgelloch railway station.