The family of a British hiker last seen on a Swiss mountain six weeks ago said they were hoping for a “crazy survival story” as they released the last video footage he had shared.
Aidan Roche, 29, an offshore chemical engineer from Middlesbrough, was last heard from on 22 June on the Eiger, in the Grindelwald area, about 50 miles from the Swiss capital, Berne.
He was on the 12th day of a two-week camping trip and is believed to have been walking back to his caravan after visiting a glacier when he disappeared.
A fundraiser set up to help with the search – including hiring a helicopter – has already raised more than £30,000. His brothers, Connor Roche, 32, and Niall Roche, 31, have walked the trail he was last seen on several times.
Roche’s relatives and friends have now decided to share his last videos in the hope that someone can identify the other people in them. Nobody has heard from him since an hour after he sent this footage.
Roche’s friend Beth Taylor, 26, said: “This is awful – we all just need to know what has happened to him.
“He’d never just disappear like this. There isn’t a day goes by normally without him making contact with friends and family, sharing pictures or videos. We’re part of a massive group of really close friends – he wouldn’t just randomly go missing.”
Taylor, who is sharing the videos on her TikTok, said Roche had the “biggest heart” and would “do anything for anyone”.
She said she hoped releasing the videos might prompt a new lead: “I know he would have spoken to the girl sitting near him in the video, and the people walking towards him. We’re just hoping that someone can identify them and give us a new lead.”
Connor Roche said the family were “all missing Aidan so much” and that the hardest thing was dealing with “the unknown”.
He said: “I try and keep up hope that maybe he’s decided to wander off, or he’s hit his head and forgotten who he is, but I have to drag myself back to what we actually know and the evidence suggests that he’s still on the mountain and we haven’t found him yet. There’s the outside chance that he has some crazy survival story.”
He added: “You can’t help but imagine the worst of things sometimes – especially with it being this long since he went missing. But then you feel guilty for imagining those things. Right now we just need more information – anything that can help us find him and bring him home.”
