'No clues' after mountain search for teen resumed

A new search operation has taken place for a British teenager who disappeared while walking in Romania, but "no clues" have been identified.

George Smyth, 18, from Newport in Shropshire, was last seen in the Bucegi Mountains in the central part of the country on 23 November last year.

Local mountain rescue service Salvamont Brasov said the operation was carried out in an area where until about two weeks ago the snow had measured between two and three metres deep.

Since then, it said most of the snow had melted in those areas for the first time since George went missing. Despite that, it said there were "no clues" that would lead to finding him.

However, the search team added that there were still areas covered in snow and that it would melt in time.

As such, it launched a public appeal to all tourists passing through Valea Gypsy and the surrounding areas to look out for tracks or objects that might be connected to George.

It added it was important to transmit "the exact location, accompanied, if possible, by photographs and GPS co-ordinates".

The teenager's last known location was in a "very isolated and hard-to-access mountain area", the team has previously said.

The area has been largely inaccessible until now and in January, George's family said they had come to accept that he had died.

"When the mountains that took him are ready to let go, George will be found, and we will bring him home to say goodbye," they said.

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