FAMILY members of missing Sydney man Gary Tweddle have flown from the UK to the Blue Mountains as the search to find him enters its second week.
Father David Tweddle took to Facebook to declare he and his family were still confident of finding his son alive and “drinking a beer with him soon”.
“(It’s) day 7 and we are still all over this, not one joule of energy less today than through everyday last week. Gary is still out there waiting for us.”
His optimism is echoed by the Operation Commander in charge of the search effort, Detective Inspector Mick Bostock, despite temperatures plummeting in the region over the weekend.
“The family and the rescue teams haven’t given up hope of finding Gary alive,” Det Insp Bostock told AAP.
More than 760 volunteers have joined in the search for Gary Tweddle, who went missing on Tuesday after leaving a work conference at the Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains suburb of Leura.
Det Insp Bostock told reporters the search area had been widened to take in the rail corridor and bushland near the highway in north Leura.
“The terrain that they’re going through is very rugged terrain with cliffs, canopies; some of the guys are even wearing wetsuits,” he said.
“The family has been overwhelmed by the support that the rescue organisations have provided.”
No new leads were found by Police, the State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service and Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad on the seventh day of searching.
Gary Tweddle, 23, was last seen in the early hours of Tuesday morning after leaving the Fairmont Resort in Leura, a suburb of the Blue Mountains 109 kilometres west of Sydney.
The British-Australian, who grew up in Berkshire before moving to the Gold Coast as a teenager, spoke with friends around midnight and told them that he was lost in bushland near a main road. Mr Tweddle was unable to be reached by telephone after this call, with police believing that he either lost service or his mobile phone battery died.
Mr Tweddle is described as being of Caucasian appearance, medium build and is around 165-170cm tall. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a black jacket and checked shirt at the time of his disappearance.
Anyone with information regarding Mr Tweddle’s whereabouts should contact Blue Mountains Local Area Command on +612 4782 8199.
