03 August 2023 , 08:22
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Concern is growing for a British hiker who vanished from the Alps 42 days ago, as his brother issues a fresh plea to find him following over a month of unsuccessful searching.
Yorkshireman Aidan Roche, 29, was last heard from on June 22 while in the Grindelwald area of Switzerland on the twelfth day of a two-week trip. As an experienced hiker, his family and friends are growing increasingly worried about the unusual behaviour. His brother Connor has now issued a plea for anyone with information to come forward so they can find him and bring him home. He said: "He’s done a lot of hiking and he’s not stupid about nature, he respects it."
Aidan Roche, 29, went missing on a hiking trip in Switzerland’s Grindelwald area (Roche Family / SWNS)His brother continued: "It’s one of the things that’s really frustrating all of us. As someone who’s now done the same hike (where Aidan vanished from) multiple times now, it’s not something he wouldn’t have been able to manage. But sometimes you know, all it takes is a freak occurrence for something to go wrong, it doesn’t matter."
The family is also looking to track down a woman who was seen in a video Aidan sent to family members shortly before he went missing. The family has used a search helicopter and distributed hundreds of missing posters, but they have still not located him. A fundraiser has now been launched by his "extremely worried" family and friends so they can pay for more advanced searches - they have raised £31,00 so far.
Connor said: "We have been back over there, me and some other family members, but nothing has been found from our searches nor any further police searches. We need some more information. We've had nothing coming in from any of the missing posters. We've also now been given the bill for the search helicopter, which came to £7k. It is one of his friends that has organised it - it has done so much better than we could've thought."
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Aidan had a phone and GPS watch on him when we went missing and his brother said his family is now trying to find out where he could have been heading. A friend previously described how it was "unlike" Aidan to stop contact with people, with Connor adding: "Even on the day he went missing, he was messaging and sending pictures and videos. It's one of the things that is frustrating, that sudden lack of communication."
Aidan is an offshore chemical engineer, who was previously living in Leeds but was planning to move back to live in Middlesbrough after he had been on his two-week solo travel trip. He is described as 6ft 2in tall and weighing 13stone.