Searches continued over the weekend for a man feared drowned in a Highland loch.
Hotelier Joachim Gerard Brolly failed to return on time after setting out in a small boat on Loch Awe in Argyll on Thursday.
The vessel was found the next morning, but with no trace of the 59-year-old, who runs the nearby Torran Bay Hostel.
Police were joined by local volunteers and coastguard rescue teams from Oban, Tarbert and Crinnan to search on Friday, and backed up by the Prestwick-based helicopter.
It is understood that the empty boat was found by a local resident before the emergency services were alerted.
A spokeswoman for the coastguard said: “We had a report that a chap had gone out on a boat on Thursday and was expected back by midnight but failed to return.
“Unfortunately, we found no sign of him.”
The coastguard crews were stood down late on Saturday, however police land-based searches continued yesterday.
Mr Brolly was reported missing soon after 9am on Friday. He lives in the Ford area at the southern end of Loch Awe.
No-one at the hostel would comment yesterday.
A police spokeswoman urged anyone with information to get in touch.
The loch has a tragic history of drownings in recent years.
Argyll and Bute Council backed an inland water safety forum in 2013 after the drowning of four men.
LochWatch Loch Awe was established following the deaths of Glasgow men Craig Currie, 30, Steven Carty, 42, his brother William, 47, and Thomas Douglas, 36, who died in March, 2009.
The four anglers had tried to cross the loch in a small boat after returning to their campsite from visiting a local pub.
The loch-watch volunteers invested £6,000 raised by the men’s families in a rescue boat for Loch Awe.
