Australian police are keeping up the search for a missing British man after a major operation involving boats, a helicopter and mounted police failed to find any trace of him.
The 25 – year-oldAslan Kinghas been missing since the early hours of Saturday morning while camping on the south coast of the state of Victoria.
His friends believe that Mr King may have had a seizure during the trip away.
Originally from Bristol, Mr King moved to Australia only a fortnight ago.
Police believe he hit his head on the ground before getting up and making his way into the nearby bushland, close to the site where he had been staying with four friends.
The group were staying close to a popular tourist site known as the Twelve Apostles – a collection of rocks rising out of the ocean near the town of Princeton, about 100 miles south-west of Melbourne.
Police in Victoria say they have been searching for Mr King using a helicopter, horses, motorcycles and sniffer dogs. Some officers have been using rubber dinghies to check the coastline.
Officers say they are focusing on a radius of 300 meters around the campsite – but the thickness of the vegetation, the deep waters and the rocky clifftops make the search difficult.
Sergeant Danny Brown of Victoria Police said on Sunday that searches over the weekend using thermal imaging sensors had found no trace of Mr King, but hoped the technology could be used again as the operation continued into the night.
Speaking to Australian news outlet Nine News, he said: “You’re using every sense, whether that be eyes, ears and touch as well.”
He added that the thermal imagine was making “a massive difference, because we’re going to find things in areas that the eye can’t see”.
“Some of this scrub , you have to get on hands and knees to move through it. “
Mr King’s friends and family had described his disappearance as” completely out of character “.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: “Our staff are seeking further information following the disappearance of a British man near Princeton, Australia and are in contact with the Australian police.”
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