\n
Christos, 70, has not been seen or heard from since about 2.45pm on Friday, when he was at Big Muster Drive in Dinner Plain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Police have announced they have “wound back their numbers for the search”, after days of about 400 searchers – including police on horseback and in a helicopter, people from Ambulance Victoria, Parks Victoria, SES and local volunteers – scouring the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nChristos has been missing since Friday. (Victoria Police)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Inspector Paul Hargreaves has told Today it would have been hard for Christos to survive the “extreme weather” in the region in the past days.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“There is no doubt that it is very difficult to survive, but you’ve got to hold the hope,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“You don’t give up hope – you just modify your search in hope that you can find him somewhere soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We plan for the worst but hope for the best.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Police will instead be focusing on searching from the air, using drones and a helicopter, and will also use off-road motorcycles to search more remote areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“The bush in this area is very dense and requires rugged searches with specific skills and equipment,” a police spokesperson has advised.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Hargreaves said searchers had to hold on to the hope that Christos had been able to find some warmth, shelter and water.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We’re motivated to find him. And we’ll continue for today, tomorrow and keep assessing.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Christos’ family have said their spirits remain high, despite snow hindering search efforts, as they wait on the mountain.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Hargreaves said police’s hearts went out to his family.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“To lose someone in an environment like this and the unknown that they’re going to return, it’s really gripping,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“This is why everybody’s putting in that extra special effort to try and locate Christos.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
In a statement released yesterday, Christos’ family said they were desperate to find him.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n‘Beloved father, husband, uncle, brother, friend and grandfather’: Christo has been missing since last Friday. (nine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
“Our spirits remain high in finding our beloved father, husband, uncle, brother, friend and grandfather,” the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“Regardless of the condition he is in, we are desperate to find him for our family’s peace and closure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We just don’t have it in our hearts to walk away without him.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The family said they were grateful for the local community support that they had received.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We can’t thank the search team, police, volunteers and wider community enough for all they have done so far,” the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“The overwhelming amount of messages we have received from our friends and family have been getting us through this difficult time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We thank you with all our love. Our prayers are constantly with him.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe search in the alpine region is being hindered by snow. (nine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOnly specialist police will continue the search with the inclement weather. (nine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Search scaled back due to extreme weather<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Snow and wind meant the more than 120 volunteers who were searching for Christos yesterday had to be stood down.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Only the most highly trained police and emergency workers were able to battle the conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The region has also been hit with rain, temperatures as low as -3C and wind gusts up to 70km\/h, and the conditions are only expected to get worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Christo went missing while wearing jeans, runners and a light hoodie.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
‘High chance’ he could be found alive<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Senior Constable Joel Magno-Thornton said on Tuesday the terrain in the region where Christos is believed to be missing was very dangerous, and could easily lead to issues if someone wandered off-track.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“The terrain out here is treacherous,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
However, he noted there was still “a very high chance” Christos could still be alive if he had managed to find a water source and shelter from the wind.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
He added that it sounded like Christos had eaten “a good meal” before his disappearance.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Hargreaves said the fact Christos had not been found indicated he had likely fallen or come into trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Police spent Monday night driving around with infrared sensors trying to detect any body heat, while two beaming lights were also set up.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The hope was that if Christos was out there and conscious, he would have the lights to guide him home.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Family devastated by ‘kind’ grandfather’s disappearance<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
In a statement issued on Monday, his family has described him as a “kind and loving person” who enjoys nature and adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We are devastated knowing that our dad Christos is still missing in Mount Hotham’s high country,” the family said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“He is a grandfather to four beautiful granddaughters and we know he would love to see them again.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“He is adored by his children, wife, family and friends and everyone else who knows him.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The family thanked the local community, police and everyone involved in the search.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We are all praying that his strong and resilient nature will find his way back to us,” the family said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Surge of locals join search<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Locals gave up work on Monday to help the frantic search for the 70-year-old Melbourne man.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
It’s understood Christos, from Greensborough in Melbourne, went for a walk to see emus reported to be in the area, but hasn’t been seen since.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nInspector Paul Hargreaves says police are doing everything they possibly can to find the missing man. (nine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
It is hoped he has managed to find shelter in one of the 400 accommodation sites in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Emergency services have been searching since Saturday, with volunteers on horseback and foot also involved.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Hargreaves said Christos’ wife contacted police when he didn’t return home about 6pm on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“She was concerned something may have happened,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“He doesn’t know the area greatly but having said that he was just walking out on a local track, the Mountain Track it’s called, that’s where we believe he went.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We are thinking he may have come across some misadventure or something has happened to him, maybe he got disoriented, we don’t know.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We know we have a limited window and the conditions up there can be quite perilous.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
“We hope for the best we plan for the worst.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police say they are not giving up hope in their search for a grandfather who has been missing in Victoria’s freezing alpine region for six nights, despite scaling back search efforts. Christos, 70, has not been seen or heard from since about 2.45pm on Friday, when he was at Big Muster Drive in Dinner Plain. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14182,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181\/revisions\/14182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advwisdom.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}