George Jackson
Over 100 people took part in searches along the Foyle, Finn and Mourne rivers in Strabane at the weekend for local woman Ms Attracta Harron (65), who has been missing from her home in the Co Tyrone town since December 11th.
Saturday's cross-Border co-ordinated search was launched following a report that a red object was seen floating in the Foyle close to Strabane on Friday.
Ms Harron, a retired librarian and mother-of-five, was wearing a red coat when she was last seen walking home from Mass in Lifford, Co Donegal, four weeks ago.
Members of the PSNI's sub-aqua team searched the Mourne, while gardaí and members of the Civil Defence searched the banks along the Finn and Foyle.
They were joined by mountain search and rescue teams from the north-west, and by canoeists who searched streams and tributaries of the Foyle which are inaccessible to larger vessels and to riverside searchers.
"Basically, we have searched the Foyle system from Strabane down to Prehen on the outskirts of Derry," said Insp Derek Scott, of the PSNI, who co-ordinated the search.
"The volunteers from both sides of the Border have been tremendous. The canoeists are able to access banks of the river which are almost impossible to get at by land.
"The fact that we are searching the rivers would indicate that we are looking for a body, but the priority is to eliminate the rivers from our investigation into the disappearance of Ms Harron and to concentrate on other lines of inquiry," said Insp Scott.