Search For Sussex Tourist Scaled Back
20 February 2019, 10:36 | Updated: 20 February 2019, 10:37
Police have scaled back the search for a 20 year old from East Sussex and his friend who have gone missing from a beach in Australia.
New South Wales Police said it was reducing the air and sea search for Hugo Palmer from East Grinstead and Erwan Ferrieux on Wednesday, more than two days after their belongings were found on Shelly Beach, near Port Macquarie on the New South Wales coast.
Walkers found items belonging to the 20-year-olds at about 6.30am on Monday (7.30pm GMT Sunday), and police later discovered their rental car in the beach's car park with a number of personal items, including travel documents, inside.
Despite efforts from emergency services, including police divers, to locate them, there has been no sign of the two men.
"Based on advice from experts, police have scaled back the air and sea search, but sweeps of the coastline and foreshore will continue over the coming days," a spokesman for the force said.
It is believed Mr Palmer, from East Grinstead, East Sussex, and Mr Ferrieux, a French national, had arrived in Australia in November, and had been in the Port Macquarie area since Sunday.
