Daniel Colegate pays tribute to French and Spanish teams who looked for his partner Esther Dingley.
image sourceLBT Global/PA
The partner of a British hiker who went missing in the Pyrenees has paid tribute to French and Spanish police teams involved in the search for her.
Daniel Colegate found Esther Dingley’s remains on Monday, more than eight months after she disappeared.
Investigators have said Ms Dingley’s injuries suggested a fall, though the cause was unclear.
In a statement on the couple’s Facebook page, Mr Colegate said those looking for Ms Dingley were “heroes”.
“Having experienced first hand how hard it was to find answers, I honestly don’t think they could have done more,” he said.
“The only difference between me and them was that I only had a single task, while they continued to rescue others as well.”
image sourceDaniel Colegate
The couple met at Oxford University and lived in Durham before setting off to travel around Europe in a campervan six years ago.
Ms Dingley, who was an experienced hiker, had been trekking solo when she last communicated with her partner from the top of Pic de Sauvegarde at about 16:00 on 22 November.
Mr Colegate said he did not “have the vocabulary to fully express how challenging these past months have been”.
“But I am certain that without the support, courage and determination of the individuals assigned to lead this case and their team members, those difficulties would have been significantly increased,” he said.
image sourceDan Colegate
The BBC’s Chris Bockman in Toulouse said an autopsy and an examination of Ms Dingley’s rucksack had been carried out by forensic teams.
He said it was “unclear” how the accident had happened but police believe the hiking shoes she was wearing several thousand metres up a mountain “did not have the grip necessary for the icy conditions at the time and she probably slipped and fell”.
He also said French officers had confirmed Mr Colegate, who was 100 miles away in France when Ms Dingley, 37, disappeared, was not a suspect.
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