Fears grow for missing Brit, 37, as French search teams scour Pyrenees for hiker missing since last week
FEARS are growing for a missing British hiker who vanished in the French Pyrenees more than a week ago.
Specialist French search teams have been combing the harsh terrain today using helicopters and sniffer dogs in search of 37-year-old Esther Dingley.
Esther vanished after chatting to her partner via Whatsapp while scaling Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border last weekend.
Dingley sent boyfriend Dan Colegate a picture of her on top of the 9,000-ft mountain, but she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
A spokesman for the emergency services in Bagnères-de-Luchon, in the Haute-Garonne department of France, said: “The search intensified on Friday. All available resources are being used in the research, but there is growing concern for her safety.”
Snow has been falling in the area where she began her solo hike a week ago, with temperatures plummeting as far as minus 2C at night.
Esther was last seen in an area notorious for hiking accidents, with a young woman who was an experienced mountain walker suffering a fatal fall as recently as 2017.
She had been travelling in a camper van and her solo trip was supposed to end on Wednesday.
Her partner said he has been left “broken” and “shattered” by her sudden disappearance.
The Durham couple started a blog together called “Esther and Dan” after they began trekking around Europe in 2014, alongside their five dogs.
Mr Colgate said Esther had been away for a month before she went missing.
In an emotional Facebook post on Saturday, Colgate shared the last picture Dingley sent him before she vanished.
He said: “She always tried to keep in touch but sometimes on her hikes was out of contact for a couple of days. This is not looking good.
“The only purpose of this post is to ask for prayers, thoughts, candles and whatever you have.
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“I’ve not been saying anything, but this wonderful person believes in the power of positive thought and right now I’ll take anything if it means that she can be found.
“I need her back. I can’t face the alternative. I’m heading back up searching now so I can’t reply to comments or messages. Sorry for the haste and inadequacy of these words.”
The couple have hiked in the Alps together, crashed a hot air balloon by the Nile, and been diving in the Mediterranean Sea before her disappearance.
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