Esther Dingley, 37, atop Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border
Credit: Facebook
Missing British hiker Esther Dingley’s partner was on Monday “alone” scouring the Pyrenees where she vanished a week ago, mountain gendarmes confirmed, as they sent reinforcements to the area in a last-ditch bid to find her.
As the search for the 37-year-old entered its fifth day, French investigators said they were keeping all lines of inquiry open, including death in suspicious circumstances.
Ms Dingley vanished while hiking alone from the Porte de la Glere to the Port de Venasque, along the border between France and Spain.
Prior to that, she had been travelling with her partner Dan Colegate on a six-year campervan tour of Europe but for the past month she had opted to hike in the Pyrenees while he stayed put in a farmhouse in Gascony.
The pair, from Durham, last spoke on WhatsApp on November 22 when Esther sent a selfie from the Pic de Sauvegarde mountain, and a day earlier she posted a series of pictures on Instagram with the caption: "I’m in heaven…. The snail is on the move again and loving it."
On Saturday, Mr Colegate said on the couple’s Facebook page: “I’m broken. Shattered to report that my beloved Esther, the person who taught me how to feel, is missing. “Search and rescue teams have so far found no trace of her.”
On Monday, French authorities sent 16 people up the mountain, the largest team to date, with national police experts joining two gendarme units.
Esther Dingley, 37, and partner Dan Colegate, had been travelling around Europe in a campervan for six years
Credit: Facebook
“Her partner is up looking for her too,” said Pierre Gaillard of the PGMH mountain gendarmes in Luchon.
“However, he prefers to walk alone.”
“He has good experience of the mountains and we are in regular contact with him. He is in a zone that is not too exposed. He has already retraced her route as it’s not a difficult path. Now he is on another area. He’s involved, he’s trying to understand and doesn’t want to stay down in the valley waiting.”
He added: “He’s obviously very worried. He knows the mountain, he has seen for himself that this is a zone where it’s difficult to see anything.”
On his Facebook page, Mr Colegate’s father, Mick, said: “We’ve spoken son and you know that I will be on the first available flight when you come down from the mountains … you don’t have to be strong and face this all alone … love you son.”
Mr Gaillard said the prospect of finding Ms Dingley alive at this stage was diminishing.
“To be frank, hopes are fading,” he said. “It’s been more than a week since her last contact a week Sunday, so we’ve reached the limit. Given the amount of time and the fact that this was someone who posted quite a lot on social media, she would have sent some sign of life if she had returned to a zone with coverage.”
Esther Dingley was last seen alive on November 22 in the Spanish Pyrenees
Credit: ESTHER & DAN via REUTERS
He said this was perhaps the last major search expedition on the French side unless new leads were uncovered.
“We will start winding down the search in the coming days because we cannot dedicate this much manpower for long given our other duties,” he said.
“She had dark clothes and grey rucksack, which easily blend into the surrounding rocks and vegetation so it’s very hard. Given the type of terrain, the search can last a long time. It already snowed a bit on Thursday night. We are expecting snow on Tuesday night, which would make it harder still.”
Ms Dingley started walking from Benasque, Spain, on November 21. French police said all trace of her was lost at 4pm on Sunday November 22.
Spanish authorities were reportedly alerted on November 25 of her disappearance and alerted their French counterparts the following morning. They found her vehicle parked on the Spanish side of the border.
Her probable itinerary would have taken her to the Port de Venasque, a mountain pass on the border between the two countries where there is an unmanned refuge open all year round.
“We still don’t know whether she actually stayed there,” said Mr Gaillard. “All data use of her phone stopped on Sunday afternoon and if she had her own cooking utensils and sleeping bag, we can’t say for sure if she passed through.”
The paths she was taking were marked, well-indicated on maps and pretty well-frequented in normal times, he said. “Several witnesses saw her on the Spanish side on the Sunday and spoke to her,” he added.
“She should have crossed over into France if she had respected her likely itinerary but we don’t know for sure whether she changed her mind and stayed on the Spanish side.”
Dingley and her partner Colegate with their campervan
Credit: Facebook
He said that gendarmes had not ruled out suspicious circumstances “as a matter of course”.
“We are mountain gendarmes, not just rescuers, so [we] also have investigative powers. We are keeping all lines of inquiry open until we can close doors," he said
"She could have had an unfortunate encounter. We don’t even know yet if she managed to get back to her vehicle,” he added, saying the Spanish were looking into this.
A Spanish Civil Guard spokesman said on Monday: "We are continuing the search for Esther Dingley. There is no news at present."
Spanish police have put out an appeal on Twitter appealing for any information that could help locate the missing British hiker.
Ms Dingley’s hike was forbidden under French lockdown rules, which until this weekend forbade walkers from going more than 1 kilometre from their house and walking for more than an hour.
“I know that has been the subject of controversy on social media but this is not an issue for us,” said Mr Gaillard.
“There were restrictions but she as she had been in Spain over the past month, she wasn’t perhaps fully aware,” he added.
Mr Colegate was expected to cross via the Vielha tunnel into Spain tomorrow where authorities are also searching for the missing hiker.
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