Fears grow for American cyclist reported missing 20 days ago in mountains of southern Spain

The anguish grows by the hour, as night falls and temperatures drop. This Friday (14 February) marks 21 days without news of Matt Opperman, the 50-year-old American born resident of Churriana in Malaga who disappeared on 24 January after cycling in the mountains of Jaén. The Guardia Civil is maintaining a major deployment by land and air, which has been extended with specialised personnel from the Greim mountain rescue and canine units, but still without results.

As the president of the Spain DH cycling club, Andrés Tapia, explained to SUR, the police are sweeping the Sierra de Segura and extending the search areas to try to locate his friend. They are not doing it alone. The sports club, to which Opperman has belonged for years, has mobilised hundreds of volunteers, many of them with knowledge of the terrain and specialised in rescue work.

"The response has been incredible; it's moving to see so many people involved, even forest firefighters are using their own personal leave days to help find him," says Tapia. Although during the week there is less citizen collaboration due to the fact that they are working days, last weekend some 200 people came together to join the search, and it is expected that this Saturday and Sunday the figure will be similar. Despite this, the days continue to pass without discovering Opperman's whereabouts, and the greatest fear of those around him is that "the operation will cease before he is located".

The sub-delegate of Spain's central government in Jaén, Manuel Fernández, explained the difficulty of the search as it was "a very complicated area and very steep". The Guardia Civil began the search on 5 February when they learned of the disappearance of Opperman, who had gone to spend a few days in a rural house in the Sierra de Segura area. His van was found there, which contained his sleeping bag and warm clothes.

As Tapia said, there are doubts about whether Opperman "may have had an accident while cycling or if he alternated cycling with hiking". His bicycle, a turquoise Yeti, has not yet been found. Unable to sit idly by, in addition to mobilising support through social media, Spain DH has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the expenses of the volunteers joining the search.

The missing man, who is from the state of Colorado, moved to Malaga several years ago and now lives in Churriana. As defined by his own friends, he is one of the most active sportsmen in the club, as well as being a professional mechanic.

"He's a nice guy, he enjoys himself, he's sporty, healthy... he really enjoys doing sports in a group; even if he didn't understand much Spanish, he would join in with everything," Tapia added. Although it is difficult to maintain hope, he says everything possible is being done to try to find him "before the media starts to lose interest".