Search in hands of army of locals
A large group of volunteers in Ballarat have continued the search for missing woman Samantha Murphy despite police ceasing their own onfoot search.
Search efforts have moved to Mount Helen after Ms Murphy left home to go for a jog on February 4.
The 51-year-old mother of three has not been seen since then.
Melbourne residents are travelling to Ballarat to help in the search for Ms Murphy but are being warned to take extra safety pre- cautions.
“What we don’t want, and what emergency services don’t want, is to then need to mount another search for other people,” Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson told Sky News.
“Ideally people would be (travelling) in twos at least so they can work as a team, but people do need to be careful.
“Ballarat is a town that was built on gold, lots of gold mines are out there – and people have to be mindful of that when they are searching.”
Ms Murphy’s friend of more than 12 years, Virginia O’Loughlan, said she was “just trying to remain as positive as I can at the moment”.
“It’s a nightmare roller coaster at the moment,” Ms O’Loughlan told the Today Show on Monday.
“We need as many people as we can get out there.
“Sam’s the most strong woman I know, an extremely dedicated mum, she’s extremely family oriented,” she said.
Ms O’Loughlan said the response from the community had been “amazing” and urged people to keep searching, whether it was on foot, on horseback, motorbike or by car.
CCTV has become the key to finding Ms Murphy, police have said, and they are attempting to gather every available piece of footage to track down her last documented movements.