Family of Scot missing in Prague calling in private investigators one week after he vanished off party boat | 661PZVE | 2024-05-05 06:08:01
Family of Scot missing in Prague calling in private investigators one week after he vanished off party boat | 661PZVE | 2024-05-05 06:08:01
THE family of a Scot who went missing after jumping from a party boat in the Czech Republic are thinking about hiring private investigators to help find him.
Joop Sparkes, 29, was holidaying in Prague and was last seen boarding the riverboat in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The construction worker, from Galashiels, is believed to have lept into the water while it was near the Charles Bridge but hasn't been seen since.
His girlfriend, Charley Maben, 24, was alerted to his disappearance just hours later.
An urgent search has been launched after the incident, with police boats and divers scouring the Vltava River.
Desperate relatives flew out to the Czech capital and have also been carrying out their own searches for Joop.
They have been following the party boat's route, checking buildings and even checking clothes found in the river if it belongs to Joop.
Czech cops have been scouring the area for a week but their efforts haven't found anything.
Joop's sister Jodie Wilson said the family are now looking at employing private detectives to carry out drone searches after they stopped seeing police boats on the water.
She told the Daily Record: "Yesterday we walked 24 miles along the riverbanks and the marina. We are also checking along the boats to make sure he's not either on or in the water nearby.
"We have spoken to people and asked if they have seen him, some are lovely and some unfortunately are very evil.
"We are all emotionally and physically exhausted but we've got to keep going. We just don't know what to do anymore and we need answers.
"It just doesn't seem real. We haven't seen police on the water since Tuesday and haven't had any answers so we've called private investigators and we're in discussions with them about drone searches as well as if they can bring divers in."
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Jodie previously told The Scottish Sun how police have alerted authorities in Germany in case Joop ended up further down the river.
She said: "We've looked along the banks and checked in derelict buildings, anywhere he could've crawled into and taken refuge. If he's gone in the water maybe he's become disoriented.
"The police said they're checking hospitals and alerted Germany incase he ends up down the river.
"They've looked at CCTV along the bank where the boat left and came back in. They've spoken to local bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
</div> </div> "We're all just devastated. We keep going through all these different emotions."
A spokesperson for the Czech Republic's national police force was reported as saying: "I can confirm that since early Sunday morning, the Prague police have been searching for a 29-year-old foreigner who, according to the announcement, jumped from a party boat near the Charles Bridge in Prague 1 and has not been seen since.
"In the place where the missing person was last seen, several search operations took place, in which policemen from the river department were also involved, but the foreigner has not been found anywhere yet."
More >> https://ift.tt/eLNfx7G Source: MAG NEWS
No comments: