A team of 14 search and rescue volunteers from Cheshire are flying out to Greece on Friday to join the hunt for missing marathon runner John Lawton.
Cheshire Search and Rescue (SAR) revealed that donations have flooded in which will help fund the trip.
John, 62, from Alsager, went missing over a month ago while competing in the Taygetos Challenge 2012 near Kalamata, western Greece.
Despite extensive searches by Greek authorities and rescue teams, he remains missing.
His son Steve, daughter Sara and wife Lynda have returned to Greece recently to help with the search, desperate for any news.
Jo McClure, spokeswoman for Cheshire SAR, said it will be the team’s first overseas trip and that they already have maps of the area where John went missing sent over.
A text message donation campaign has been set up by the team, which has swelled to almost a £1,000.
With additional funds raised by John’s family and friends, they have now booked flights and will arrive in Greece on Friday evening.
“It’s been a joint effort by John’s family and us to get us out there,” said Jo.
“They are willing to pay for accommodation and food while we are there, so we just needed to raise money for the flights.
“We are still running the campaign because at the moment our volunteers may have to pay for vehicle hire out there form their own pockets.
“We had 19 people volunteer to go out – people who are taking time away from their day jobs to help. We only 14 seats available on the flight, though!”
The team has had clearance from the Home Office and Greek authorities, and will be loaning some of the equipment out there from the Hellenic Rescue Team.
“We have good links with them anyway. It’s things like radios, we can’t take ours because of licence issues,” added Jo.
“It’s incredibly hard for John’s family, they are just grateful we can get people out there to help.”
To make a donation, visit www.cheshire-sarteam.org and see details below.
How to make a donation:
By phone, text CSAR01 and an amount between £1 and £10 to 70070, eg text CSAR01 £5 to 70070
By bank transfer, transfer a donation to our account, account name Cheshire Search and Rescue, payment reference John Lawton Appeal, sort code 01-09-17, account number 58558691
By credit card, visit everyclick.com and search for Cheshire Search and Rescue.
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