POLICE have this afternoon thanked the many Durham University students and social media users for their help in the ongoing search for missing teenager Euan Coulthard.
The 19-year-old was last seen on CCTV crossing Framwellgate Bridge in Durham City at 11.57pm on Wednesday night.
A dinghy-based team have been scouring the River Wear and its banks for the Durham University law student since Thursday.
More than 100 students and 60 specialist personnel - including Teesdale and Weardale Mountain Rescue Team - have been involved in the painstaking search - with thousands more sharing Euan's photo on social media.
Today the painstaking search continued around the Framwellgate Bridge area of the river.
Speaking at 2pm this afternoon, Police Chief Inspector Sue Robinson of Durham Police said: "We are three days into the search and with the weather conditions that we have had, we are very concerned and these concerns increase every day.
"For the last two days police and fire and rescue crews have been searching the river, its banks and nearby woodlands.
"Today the river level has dropped considerably and it's not as fast flowing which has made the task easier. Yesterday (Friday) more than a hundred students came out to help and that support continues.
"I would like to say a very big thank you to everyone involved. Without leafleting and sharing Euan's picture on social media, the awareness of Euan's disappearance would not be what it is."
Addressing the issue of riverside safety, Ch Insp Robinson said: "Right now our priority is finding Euan, once we have found Euan we can have these discussions with Durham County Council, the University and licensed premises to see how we can prevent disappearances of this nature in the future."
ountain rescue volunteers search the Wear this morning (Saturday). Photo: TOM BANKS
Teesdale & Weardale Search & Mountain Rescue Team spent a third day assisting the search. The team were initially called on Thursday afternoon to the River Wear where 18 team members carried out a riverbank and canoe search five miles downstream from the city.
John Little, Mountain Rescue Search Manager said: "Today (Saturday) 26 of our team members completed the woodland search as well as repeating the canoe search to Finchale Priory. Our swiftwater rescue team also worked closely with a team from Durham and Darlington Fire Service to check likely entrapment points above the weirs in Durham City.
Pete Bell Team Leader said " We would like to thank the students of St. Mary College who have been offering to help us with the search with a number of them coming up to our team members to say thank you for helping to search for Euan. The college itself has also kindly provided catering for all of the emergency services."
Yesterday (Friday) officers from Durham Police led by a police search advisor were joined by experts from the fire brigade and the search and rescue team to undertake the specialist elements, while the student volunteers distributed leaflets and undertook other awareness-raising efforts.
Dave Coxon, the neighbourhood inspector for Durham City, speaking on Friday, said the focus of the search had moved to the banks of the Wear in Durham city centre, a dinghy-based team having scoured the river as far downstream as Finchale College without finding anything on Thursday.
“We’re totally focused on finding Euan,” Inspector Coxon said.
Euan, of Bottesford, near Nottingham, had been out celebrating a 21st birthday with friends when he disappeared.
The second-year law student left his shared house near The Colpitts pub, in Durham’s Hawthorn Terrace, earlier on Wednesday evening and enjoyed a meal with friends at the popular Italian restaurant La Spaghettata, in Saddler Street.
The evening then moved on to the Loveshack nightclub, in the Walkergate entertainment complex, which is said to have been busy with students on what is the traditional university sports clubs and societies night.
Euan left Loveshack alone shortly before midnight and walked along Claypath into Durham Market Place.
From there, he turned right down Silver Street and crossed Framwelgate Bridge.
He was captured on CCTV at 11.57pm descending some steps leading down to the River Wear near the Bishop Langley pub, on the North Road side of Framwelgate Bridge.
The fuzzy picture is the last known sighting of the teenager before his disappearance.
Police say by 12.05am his mobile phone was “powered down”, though it is not known whether he switched it off.
Falling river level is making search easier. Photo: TOM BANKS
Euan was reported missing on Thursday lunchtime after he failed to respond to text and Facebook messages and emails from friends, who say this is out of character for him.
He is described as 5ft 9in, of average build with light, brown hair, which is short on the sides and longer on top.
He was last seen wearing black skinny jeans, a denim jacket and a beige patterned shirt.
Euan is the third Durham student to disappear around the Wear in 18 months.
The body of Sopefoluwa Peters, a 20-year-old economics student of Nigerian-American descent, was found in the river five weeks after he vanished after a night out at Klute nightclub in October 2013.
Luke Pearce, a 19-year-old engineering student, drowned the following May.
Anyone with information on Euan’s whereabouts is asked to call Durham Police on 101.
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