19 December 2007

ORANJESTAD - A team of experts has resumed the search for teenager Natalee Holloway, who disappeared on Aruba in May 2005, despite the fact that the justice department has decided to close the case against a number of suspects because of lack of evidence.

A special American investigation craft will start scanning the sea floor around the island on Wednesday. The arrival of the boat Persistence was confirmed by Tim Miller of Texas Equuesearch (TES), an organisation that tries to track down missing Americans when the authorities have given up.

The deployment of the ship was announced a month ago by Dave Holloway, Natalee's father, but the operation hit delays last week because of tropical storm Olga in the Caribbean.

The Persistence can search to a depth of three km, much deeper than the previous search action. The costs of the investigation will reportedly come to hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and are being covered with donations.

The public prosecution department on the island has distanced itself from the private search, to the dissatisfaction of former suspect Joran van der Sloot's lawyer, Ariean de Bie, who fears that evidence may be fabricated if there is no supervision by the authorities.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news