Chilean authorities call off search for missing backpacker

Chilean authorities have informed the Department of Foreign Affairs that they have called off their search for an Irish backpacker who went missing in November.

Ronan Lawlor (28), from Durrow, Co Laois, has not been in contact with family or friends since he entered the vast Torres del Paine national park on the border between Argentina and Chile on November 18th.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was contacted yesterday by the Chilean authorities, who told it of their decision to call off the search.

A department spokesman said Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern had expressed his deep sympathies to Mr Lawlor's family at this difficult time.

Mr Lawlor had been on a round-the-world trip, backpacking in South America since August. He regularly updated family and friends through a blog, an online diary.

His last contact had been before he went to visit the national park. Mr Lawlor's cousin, Gráinne Lawlor, and his friend, Bernard McCabe, flew to Argentina last week to assist in the search.

Earlier this month Mr Ahern contacted the Chilean minister for foreign affairs, Alberto Van Klaveren, to seek his assistance in helping locate Mr Lawlor.

The Argentinian authorities also assisted in the search of the national park using sniffer dogs.

The area of the search was narrowed down last week after the authorities located a couple who had spoken to Mr Lawlor who had told them his travel plans.

The couple travelled on the same bus as Mr Lawlor to the 2,400km (1,491-mile) national park, and he told them about the area of it that he was hoping to visit.

Earlier, Mr Lawlor's rucksack had been found in a hostel in El Calafate, Argentina. He had been staying at the hostel before he went to hike in the national park. Family and friends were pleased when the rucksack had been found as they felt it narrowed the focus of the search for him.

Mr Lawlor had written his last blog on November 17th and the following day sent a text to a friend.

The Torres del Paine national park in Patagonia was declared a biosphere reserve by Unesco in 1978 and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, most of whom opt to hike on tours of four to seven days.

Mr Lawlor's family have set up a website in English and Spanish to seek information. The address is www.ronanlawlor.org