British backpacker feared dead after vanishing from Peruvian

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    • #2945

      British backpacker feared dead after vanishing from Peruvian clifftop
      http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23409697-details/British+backpacker+feared+dead+after+vanishing+from+Peruvian+clifftop/article.do

      A young British backpacker and adventurer was feared dead last night after vanishing from a clifftop in Southern Peru more than two weeks ago.

      David Dieppe may have fallen more than 80ft onto rocks and the Pacific Ocean after revisiting the cliff to photograph a colony of seals.

      The 22-year-old Nottingham University student is known as an elite endurance runner and had travelled to South America to take part in an overland backpacking tour which started in Chile and was due to finish in Ecuador.

      Last night there were fears he had died after specially trained search and rescue teams were unable to find any trace of him in and around the Peruvian town of Chala or the nearby Tacana Beach area where he was last seen.

      David’s parents – company director Charles (67) and Christine Dieppe, from Ludwell, Dorset – were last night in Peru and anxiously waiting for news of their son. Both were said to be too upset to talk about his disappearance.

      David was in the third year of a four year course at Nottingham studying Russian, German and history and was due to graduate in 2008.

      A keen member of the Officer Training Corps at Nottingham he had been sponsored by the British Army and was hoping to go to Sandhurst before joining either the Light Infantry or Royal Marines.

      Public school educated David attended the £20,000-a-year King’s School in Bruton, Somerset before going onto University.

      He was last seen alive on August 7 when he and fellow backpackers visited a cliff near Tacana Beach to photograph seals in the area.

      The alarm was raised by fellow backpackers when he failed to return to his hotel in Chala.

      It was revealed yesterday that David decided to go back to the cliff after the other tourists had returned to the hotel. A search was immediately launched for the young student after he failed to return.

      A specialist British trained search and rescue team was asked by the British Embassy to try and find David but there was no trace.

      John Holland, Operations director of rescue group Rapid UK, explained last night:

      “David unfortunately went back alone to photograph the seals. When he didn’t return his friends raised the alarm – it is a sheer drop and there is no beach below but just rocks.

      “Our team has abseiled into caves and searched the whole area but no trace has been found of him yet.

      “We have talked with the local fishermen and they haven’t seen him. I’m afraid there’s not much hope of finding him alive.”

      Tacana Beach is famous for not only its seal population but for being sacred to Inca tribesmen who would thrown human sacrifices from the cliff.

      David was travelling with a group of 20 people on a trip organised by the Oasis Overland tour company based in Henstridge, Somerset.

      The 53 day trip – which costs around £1,000 – starts in Santiago, Chile before travelling to Quito, Ecuador and taking in the famed Machu Picchu Inca city in Peru.

      Last night Overland Oasis director Steve Crowhurst said: “We don’t really know what happened. David said he was going off to take some photos and then never came back. We do not think there was anything troubling him.”

      Adventurous David had taken part in a number of endurance feats and races prior to his trip to Peru.

      In April he competed in the three team Polar Challenge by pulling a sledge with 120 pounds of equipment in a 350 mile race to the North Pole in temperatures of -50c.

      Previously in April 2006 he took part in the equally gruelling Marathon of the Sand which consists of a run of 151 miles across the Sahara Desert in Morocco.

      Before embarking on the marathon he explained his motivation when he said:

      “I want to go into the Army when I leave University and I believe the more experience I have and the more I have endured the better I will be at being an officer and leading others.

      “The preparation will be the hardest part – I know I’m quite mentally tough so once I’m out there, I will finish the race, no matter what.”

      Last night the Foreign Office confirmed that David was missing in and his next of kin were being kept informed of efforts made to find him.

      ~JAMES

    • #9044
      DrDave
      Participant

      That sucks. It is bad enough to get killed, it is worse for the rest of the victim’s family to get disappeared. I hope they find him alive and passed out in an alley after a big bender instead of washed up on shore somewhere.

    • #9045
      Stiv
      Member

      This is why I’ll be using porters to carry my stuff 8)

      If I treat them well and feed them regularly hopefully there will be no issues of whereabouts.

      ~Stiv

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