Fears grow for missing pensioner

The search for a British pensioner who vanished during a trip to Lanzarote was called off last night and was expected to resume today.

Fears are growing for the welfare of Margaret Holt, 65, from the Wirral, who was last seen on the Canary Island on 23 December. Her worried family contacted the Spanish Civil Guard after she failed to call them over Christmas.

They are now in the country helping the large-scale search operation which has seen a dog team, rescue helicopters and volunteers join the hunt.

Djek Deign, manager of UK Away FM, an English language radio station on Lanzarote, said: “Her family found an Amazon guide to Lanzarote in her room with marked pages, indicating that she was going to go hiking in the north of the island.

“The north is a peninsula that comes off the island and is about ten miles long and has cliffs on one side with a drop of about 1,000m in some places. We are talking very rugged terrain with ravines and rocks.”