Hunt for missing student goes on

Mr Cook's disappearance is said to be out of character

British ex-pats on the Greek island of Crete have joined in the search for a missing university student.

Steve Cook, 20, of Sandbach, Cheshire, disappeared after a night out with friends on the day they arrived in the resort of Malia on 31 August.

Mr Cook, a student at Liverpool John Moores University, failed to board his flight home on Wednesday.

His brothers, Tony, 28, and Chris, 30, flew out to Crete on Sunday to try and look for him.

Hospital search

On Wednesday, Chris Cook said police in the resort had begun searching drains and patrolling the coastline in a glass-bottomed boat.

Mr Cook said about 100 ex-pats had each been given a grid reference of the island to search and put up posters in.

"And obviously we have still been searching hospitals and keeping in touch with them," he added.

His brother-in-law Philip Edwards, 37, said theories that Mr Cook had met a girl without telling anyone had now been dismissed.

Parents 'distraught'

"That would be totally unlike him, but it was difficult to make the authorities believe that.

"The fact that he has not shown up for his flight will hopefully spur them into action and realise that something needs to be done."

Mr Cook's parents, Norman, 62, and Patricia, 61, are said to be "distraught" at their son's disappearance.

He was said to be "merry" but not stupidly drunk before he went missing.

Officials at the British consulate on the island are helping the family speak to police and the local hospitals.