Police yesterday named a holidaymaker who went missing from a cross-Channel ferry after telling his girlfriend he was going on deck for a cigarette.
Richard Fearnside, 30, disappeared from the Pride of Kent as it sailed between Calais and Dover last Tuesday.
His girlfriend raised the alarm when he failed to return to their car when it was time to disembark.
A full-scale search was launched with a lifeboat, RAF rescue helicopter and a Royal Navy ship but it was called off after four hours because of bad weather.
There has been no sign of Richard since and police are treating the case as a missing person investigation.
Pete Legg, deputy launching authority at Dover RNLI, said: “It is unlikely someone could survive in the water for that amount of time at this time of year.”
Richard lived in Whistable, Kent where his family are making a desperate appeal in an attempt to locate him.
He is described as white, of slim build, 5ft 8in tall, with short, cropped, mousey coloured hair.
He was last seen wearing a black hooded top, blue t-shirt, blue jeans and black and white trainers.
