A frantic search for a missing Brit in Spain is ongoing after he vanished during a holiday last week. Police say they are “very worried” for Iain Stanley, 79, after he disappeared from the Perla Marina Hotel in Nerja on the Costa del Sol while on holiday with his wife.

For the first time since he was last seen nearly a week ago, police have reached out to the public as they have “very little to go on” in their search for him. One officer said: “We’re making all the normal checks in places like hospitals and conducting physical searches but have turned up nothing so far.”

Another investigator added: “It’s difficult because we’ve got very little to go on still apart from the place this man was seen leaving which was his holiday accommodation.

“It’s a disappearance that is giving officers great cause for concern. It’s been five days now since he went missing.”

They said fears for Iain’s safety were increasing “with each day that passes… if he’s headed towards an area like the mountains”.

A Civil Guard spokesman in Malaga confirmed: “The search is ongoing. Officers aren’t any closer yet to establishing where the missing man could be and what has happened.”

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Mr Stanley, said to be in good health, was wearing black jeans, a shirt and a blue jacket when he was last seen. He was without his mobile phone or passport.

News of his disappearance is now circulating in several local expat Facebook groups, with relatives also appealing for information on his whereabouts.

It was not immediately clear this afternoon where in the UK Mr Stanley is from. One well-wisher who helped by publishing the appeal on social media said he was in Nerja for a two-month holiday.