A Durham adventurer who went missing on a trek through the Pyrenees “may have been attacked”, police have said.
Esther Dingley had been travelling around Europe with her partner Dan Colegate, but failed to return from her solo trip as planned last Wednesday, sparking an urgent police search.
Rescue teams have found no trace of the 37-year-old hiker in the Pyrenees despite using drones, helicopters and dogs for eight days.
Her partner Dan Colegate, 38, reported her missing after she headed off on a solo hike from Spain into France.
Investigators fear she may have come to harm after she set out from Port de la Glere to Port de Venasque.
Police chief Laurent Gerin, covering Bagnères-de-Luchon, at the heart of the search, told The Mirror : “We have no last location. She switched off her mobile from time to time and we have to trace her use of it.
“She could be on another track to the one planned. But she could have been attacked. Her boyfriend is very worried.
“Snow has fallen so that is very bad for the search. She could have fallen, she could be sick – we do not know. We have to check everything.”
Esther and Dan, who shared a flat in Durham, had been travelling around Europe in a camper van since 2014.
