RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Re­porter

A search op­er­a­tion is un­der­way for a Princes Town man who dis­ap­peared dur­ing an out­ing to the Bun­see mud vol­cano on Sat­ur­day.

Ruthven Ian Atkin­son, 57, of the Princes Town con­gre­ga­tion, was part of a group that vis­it­ed the pop­u­lar site for a lunch lime when he went miss­ing.

Ac­cord­ing to ini­tial re­ports, Atkin­son had walked ahead of the group along a trail and was lat­er dis­cov­ered to be un­ac­count­ed for.

Con­cerned mem­bers of the group be­gan search­ing the im­me­di­ate area but were un­able to lo­cate him, prompt­ing a wider search ef­fort.

Up to late Sun­day, a team led by en­vi­ron­men­tal­ist Val­lence Ramb­harat, along with ex­pe­ri­enced hunters fa­mil­iar with the ter­rain, had joined the ef­fort to comb the forest­ed ar­eas sur­round­ing the mud vol­cano.

Search teams are con­tin­u­ing ef­forts, fo­cus­ing on trails and near­by forest­ed zones where Atkin­son may have strayed.

Fam­i­ly mem­bers and mem­bers of the Princes Town con­gre­ga­tion have al­so been alert­ed and are anx­ious­ly await­ing up­dates.

Any­one with in­for­ma­tion on Atkin­son’s where­abouts is be­ing urged to con­tact the near­est po­lice sta­tion.