26-05-2025
Spanish police search for missing Briton after finding his abandoned van
Police in Spain are searching for a British man whose van was found abandoned near a popular beach resort on the Costa Brava coast.
Matthew Chapman, 24, from Manchester, was reported missing by his family on April 30.
Police said they found his van at a viewpoint on the road north from Tossa de Mar toward the town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
After conducting a two-day search, police called it off on Thursday, a spokeswoman for Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra told The Telegraph.
According to the Spanish news site police sources said Mr Chapman drove his van to France on May 1 via the Eurotunnel.
'Land, sea and air search'
Signals from his two mobile phones showed him in both Spain and Portugal between May 2 and May 4, before being lost on the Costa Brava where his van was found.
Catalan police linked the van to Mr Chapman's missing person file on Interpol.
On Wednesday and Thursday last week, firefighters searched the area around the van with sniffer dogs and drones, but found no sign of him or a body.
'It was a land, sea and air search which took place on Wednesday and Thursday,' said a spokesman for Mossos d'Esquadra.
'The investigation into the missing man's whereabouts is continuing.'
