The family of a British doctor who vanished while walking in the Pyrenees believe his Apple account may hold the clues to finding him after his car was found abandoned in the mountains.
Tom Doherty, 67, from St Albans, was hiking and camping near Col d’Escots when his family lost contact with him on Tuesday after he sent a flurry of Whatsapp messages – one of which read: ‘Help, I’ve fallen and cannot move.’
Fears were raised that he may have been caught in bad weather during his hike after another of the messages, sent two-and-a-half hours earlier, had shown clouds over a mountain range.
Mr Doherty had reportedly been hiking in the Ariege region near France’s border with Spain and Andorra, where there have been thunderstorms in recent days.
Whilst messaging his family before his disappearance, Mr Doherty did not reveal his precise location. But his loved ones have now appealed for help in getting into his Apple account as they believe it will reveal this information.
A desperate search is now underway involving dogs and helicopters but has been hampered by poor visibility – causing great concern for his family including wife Anne Lyons, who has admitted that he ‘doesn’t know the mountain well’.
She also believed he ‘did not have the complete and necessary equipment’ for hiking alone in the perilous mountain range.
Mr Doherty (right, with his wife Anne Lyons) was last heard from on Tuesday evening while hiking in France
Search operations in the region have been hampered by poor visibility (pictured: gendarmes with a dog in the area)
The family shared a photo taken by Mr Doherty that he took on Saturday, before vanishing
Mr Doherty’s family have now appealed for help in getting into his Apple account as they believe it will reveal this information (pictured from left to right: Tom Doherty, wife Anne, son-in-law Tim Hughes and daughter Rachel Doherty)
In a post on social media, a woman who said Doherty was her uncle wrote: ‘We desperately need to access his Mac laptop which has been locked as we have tried his passwords too many times. We need to get into it…. so that we can look at the last location of his last photos on iCloud and try and get into his Find My.’
Mr Doherty and his wife own a home in south-west France where the esteemed tropical medicine consultant has spent a large part of his retirement over the last decade.
Ms Lyons, who is now in France and involved in the search for her husband, said they had found his abandoned grey Renault Clio near Pouech de Gerac, a few miles away from the Chalet de Beauregard.
He was reportedly last seen at 12.30pm on Tuesday, a few miles from this location, near Etang de la Plede.
Describing the moment the family received his message, she said: ‘We panicked. When I arrived in France, I hoped that they had found him and that we would be in the hospital.
‘But, in the afternoon with the fog, we lost confidence, especially for a 67-year-old man spending a second night alone in these conditions.
‘We have a lot of worries, but we have not lost hope. This is why we are appealing for witnesses. If anyone has seen him, if anyone knows in which campsite he has pitched his tent, please alert the police.’
Mr Doherty, a grandfather of one who has been described as an avid and experienced walker, set off on a four-day solo walking and camping trip in the Pyrenees on Saturday. He has three daughters and one son.
His family believe he had been camping somewhere in the Col d’Escots area.
Ms Lyons said she knows her husband was in Ax-les-Thermes, a ski resort in the Ariege department, close to Andorra, earlier in the week.
Tom (right) and his wife Anne (left). The family are appealing for any information that could help find him
Mr Doherty told his family he had fallen and could not move before disappearing
Mr Doherty, a grandfather of one who has been described as an avid and experienced walker, set off on a four-day solo walking and camping trip in the Pyrenees on Saturday (pictured: Mr Doherty with grandaughter Martha)
Rachel (left) says her father (right) had ‘always loved and adventure and had been very independent’
‘We know this because he went hiking and camping,’ she said. ‘Every day we received photos and messages.
‘And then on Tuesday, around 8pm, while we were in England, everyone received messages saying: ‘Help, I’ve fallen and cannot move.’ And then nothing more.’
Ms Lyons arrived in France from the UK on Wednesday, along with her daughter, Rachel, to help in the search.
She said: ‘Since Tuesday, we have had no contact with him. He doesn’t receive any messages. He does not answer. We therefore launched the alert from England.
‘Since Wednesday, searches have been carried out in the mountains with dogs and helicopters, but fog appeared, which made the operation difficult.
‘My daughter and I took a flight to arrive very early on Wednesday morning. We went up to the Col d’Escots in Ustou and found his car.
‘We know he’s camping somewhere in the area, but not exactly where. During the day, someone saw him near the Aubé pond car park, near the Gérarc circle.
‘He was tired, but he wanted to continue. Later, he was probably injured in an accident. Now we don’t know where he is.’
His daughter said he had sent pictures of the local scenery before going missing, with clouds coming over a mountain and the caption ‘bugger’
Neil Stone, a friend and infectious disease doctor, described Mr Doherty as a ‘legend in the world of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases’
Mr Doherty’s photographs sent into the WhatsApp chat have helped provide some clues on his whereabouts.
One looked down on the Chalet de Beauregard, which is believed to be an hour’s uphill walk from the refuge, a woman who works there said. It is not clear how far he walked before the accident.
Rachel says her father had ‘always loved and adventure and had been very independent’.
Neil Stone, a friend and infectious disease doctor, posted on X: ‘Dr Tom Doherty is a legend in the world of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases and inspired me to go into the field Desperately hope he is found safe and sound.’
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: ‘We are supporting the family of a British man missing in France and are in touch with the local authorities.’
His disappearance comes after a series of high profile disappearances in mountain ranges.
Teenager Jay Slater fell to his death in a ravine on Tenerife in June after trying to walk home from a night out on holiday, while TV presenter Michael Mosley died after taking a wrong turn on the Greek island of Symi earlier in the same month.
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