Massive search party organised in US to look for Irish backpacker missing since April

A fund has been launched to help the parents of an Irish man, who went missing almost eight months ago on a US hiking route, mount a massive search for him.

David O’Sullivan’s parents Con and Carmel are due to jet out from Cork to California today to join one of the single largest co-ordinated search efforts for their son who vanished on April 7 while hiking the epic Pacific Crest Trail on the US west coast.

Dozens of volunteers, including expert hikers and members of the Irish expat community in San Diego, will be involved in the massive operation from Saturday in an area about the size of Cork county.