Freund says missing walker was probably taken “against the will”

A missing British hiker’s friend claims she was likely taken “against her will” when she disappeared while hiking in the Pyrenees, Spain.

Dan Colegate, 38, said he believed in the “terrible prospect” that “someone else was involved in his girlfriend’s disappearance,” Esther Dingley, 37, told the BBC.

“A happy, experienced, well-equipped and fit young woman was missing in an area with clear paths and mostly open terrain,” he wrote on Facebook.

“An intensive search revealed no signs of her or her equipment. It’s like it’s vanished into thin air. “

Dingley was last seen on November 22nd during a solo hike to the summit of Pic de Sauveguard, a mountain between Spain and France.

Another hiker who met her on the trail said Dingley was emotional and talked about relationship problems.

“Esther said she and Dan were taking a break and she didn’t know if they would get back together,” Laura Adomaitye said, reported The Sun.

“If you don’t completely agree with your partner, you won’t be completely emotionally balanced.”

But Colegate has dismissed any suggestion that their relationship was problematic as “brutal nonsense”.

“For nearly two decades we’ve shared almost everything and built a life together that has been challenging at times, but mostly full of joy and love,” he said.

Search parties have found no trace of the missing hiker, while authorities investigating her disappearance said they had not ruled out that it was “not accidental,” the BBC reported.

Colegate, who is currently in France, said he was sure she would have been found by the search parties if she was injured in the mountains.

“All of this leads me to believe that someone else was involved in Esther’s disappearance and against her will,” he said.

“This is a terrible prospect and I wish I could believe otherwise, but I can’t.”