Police end river search for sisters missing for three weeks

Police searches in the River Dee in Aberdeen to trace two sisters who disappeared earlier this month have come to an end.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen on January 7 at 2.12am in Market Street at Victoria Bridge.

Their disappearance prompted a major search and rescue mission but officers have been unable to find the pair nearly three weeks on.

Police Scotland announced on Monday that “extensive and detailed searches” of the river and harbour had concluded, according to reports.

But the force said wider inquiries to find the sisters are ongoing, including searches of coastal areas in the north and south of Aberdeen.

Earlier, officers said the two women had visited the bridge where they were last seen the day before their disappearance.

They were seen at Victoria Bridge at around 2.50pm on January 6.

CCTV shows the sisters, who are part of a set of triplets, spent five minutes at the footpath and Victoria Bridge but did not engage with anyone else.

It also emerged a text message was sent from Henrietta’s mobile phone to the sisters’ landlady at 2.12am on January 7, from the area of Victoria Bridge, indicating they would not be returning to the flat.

The phone was then disconnected from the network and has not been active since, police said.

The following day, the sisters’ personal belongings were found in the flat and the landlady reported her concerns to police.

After visiting the bridge on January 6, CCTV footage shows the sisters making their way through the city centre, via the Union Square shopping centre, back to their flat in the Charlotte Street area.

Police said there is nothing to indicate they left it again until shortly before they were last seen at the River Dee.

When they were last seen on January 7 they crossed the bridge and turned right on to a footpath next to the river heading towards Aberdeen Boat Club.