French search for British hiker may be postponed until spring
French police say they will probably have to wait until spring to continue the search for a British hiker who went missing late last year in the Pyrenees.
Esther Dingley, 37, had been walking alone in the mountains near the border between Spain and France and was last seen on 22 November.
French police captain Jean Marc
Bordinaro told the Times “all possible investigations” in French territory had been carried out “without any result”.
He said: “We have no indication permitting us to confirm the presence of Esther Dingley in France since she was seen for the last time on the Spanish side of the Pic de Sauvegarde. We’ll probably have to wait till spring to undertake more searches.”
Dingley’s partner, Daniel Colegate, who had been hiking with her but was house-sitting at a French farmhouse on 22 November, said earlier this month he did not believe she fell or had some other kind of accident.
He also dismissed suggestions she could have voluntarily disappeared.
Writing on Facebook, Colegate denied the suggestion Dingley would spark a major search operation by vanishing, rather than simply telling him she needed time alone. He said: “All of which leads me to believe that somebody else has been involved in Esther’s disappearance and against her will.
“This is a terrifying prospect and I wish I could believe otherwise, but I cannot.”
The couple, who have been together for almost 19 years, met at Oxford University and lived in Durham before they set off travelling around Europe in a camper van six years ago.
Gunmen on motorcycles ambushed a vehicle carrying instructors from a private vocational school in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing four women and wounding the driver before fleeing.
The attack took place in the village of Ippi near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan district in a former tribal region bordering Afghanistan, said Shafi Ullah Khan Gandapur, a district police chief.
Police said the women were sent to the village by a private vocational school, Bravo Institute of Technology, Peshawar, under an agreement with the Sabawon Pakistan charity. They had planned to train 140 residents for skilled occupations that would allow them to open their own businesses.
Arfan Ullah Marwat, a spokesperson for Sabawon, said the women were not their employees.
Gandapur said the attack might have been avoided if police had received a request for security in an area where militants have stepped up attacks on troops in recent months.
The wounded driver, Abdul Khaliq, said he saw assailants on two motorcycles open fire and then flee. He said he was hired by the Bravo Institute to take the women from the town of Bannu to Mir Ali and back.
The attack drew condemnation from rights activists on social media, with most demanding swift action against those responsible.
Pakistani militants have in recent months stepped up their activities in the region, raising fears that they are regrouping in the area, a former Taliban stronghold. Militants often attack Pakistani troops in the former tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
The North and South Waziristan districts served as the main base for local and foreign militants until the military secured the regions in 2015.