Search for missing 21-year-old restarted
The search has been re-started for a 21-year-old man that has missing since the early hours of New Year’s Day. Over the past couple of days both the police and numerous volunteers have been searching for Frederik Vanclooster, who was last seen at a New Year’s celebration at the Kruitfabriek in his home town of Vilvoorde (Flemish Brabant).
The Federal Police Missing Persons’ Cell has deployed a boat equipped with sonar detection equipment to search the Brussels-Rupel Canal in the vicinity of where the student was last seen. A team of drivers is also assisting in the search. The Missing Person’s Cell’s Alain Remue told VRT News that the search of the canal is a very difficult.
On Thursday a helicopter and a sonar detection boat were deployed in the search for Frederik Vanclooster. More than 100 volunteer help police in the search for the 21-year-old. Since Thursday afternoon the search has concentrated solely on the canal. Alain Remue told the VRT that if Frederik had have been on land in the area around the place where he was last seen then he would have been found.
"I have just spoken with his parents and the chance of a positive conclusion diminishes as more time passes. Frederik is not the kind of lad that would go off somewhere without saying anything”.
The search for Frederik was stopped at around 4pm on Thursday. On Thursday evening police took a second look at the images on the canal bed that had been shot be the sonar detection boat’s camera. However, they still drew a blank.
Today a team of divers and a scanner are being deployed in the search. The search of the canal is not easy as there is a lot of rubbish lying there and it is full of craters and crevices. A number of new officers have joined the police team in order to provide “fresh pairs of eyes”.