Search under way for 73-year-old Swiss tourist missing in Estepona

According to information provided to this newspaper by Octopus Detectives Privados, the agency hired by the missing man’s family, the tour guide for the group with whom the missing man was travelling filed a police report that very same night. His family is now awaiting news of the man’s whereabouts and is appealing to the public for help in finding him.

Petar Ilic was staying at the Hotel Ona Diana Park, on Calle Nueva Atalaya, and had gone with the group to eat at the Por Fin beach bar, on Calle Dunas de Casasola, some 700 metres from the hotel. The man was spending a few days’ holiday on the Costa del Sol with other Swiss tourists, according to the detective agency.

After lunch, the man reportedly set off on foot back to the hotel, accompanied by two women from the group. However, halfway there - over a stretch of just 300 metres - he realised he had left his mobile phone at the restaurant and decided to turn back to find it. That was the last time he was seen, according to the agency; he did not return to the beach bar nor did he go back to his hotel room, where his personal belongings and documents had been left.

His travelling companions searched for him that very night, but to no avail. Enquiries carried out by his family and friends at local health centres, hospitals and care homes in the area have also proved fruitless. Sources consulted confirm that the missing man does not suffer from Alzheimer’s or any other form of cognitive impairment, so they have ruled out the possibility that he may have become disoriented.

Petar Ilic is 1.75 metres tall, weighs between 70 and 75 kilos and is of a slim build. He has short, grey-white hair and brown eyes. He does not speak Spanish and communicates only in Italian and German. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a black Lacoste T-shirt with thin white stripes and yellow cuffs, brown camouflage shorts and grey FILA trainers with fluorescent yellow detailing. He was also wearing a Rolex watch, a chain and a yellow gold bracelet, and several rings.

Anyone who can provide any information or who has seen the missing person should contact the National Police on 091 or the Emergency Services on 112.