The mother of a British tourist who went missing from a beach in Australia along with his French friend a week ago has said she feels “completely numb”.
Tanya McNab said she had been in a state of shock since hearing her son, Hugo Palmer, had vanished together with his friend, Erwan Ferrieux.
McNab visited Shelly Beach on the New South Wales coast on Sunday where a vigil for Palmer and Ferrieux, both 20, was held.
The pair were last seen near the beach and items belonging to them were found nearby.
The distraught mother said her son had been living his dream by visiting Australia, but it had “only just started”.
“I’m feeling numb - completely numb. I have been since I heard the news,” she said.
Palmer, from East Grinstead, East Sussex, and Ferrieux, a French national, arrived in Australia in November and had been in the Port Macquarie area since February 17.
A major search was launched after items belonging to the pair were found at the beach near Port Macquarie late that night.
The air and sea operation was scaled back on Wednesday, although sweeps of the area were due to continue.
On Sunday, locals and backpackers from Port Macquarie joined Palmer’s mother and members of his family on the beach for a vigil.
The men’s belongings were arranged on the sand and flowers were laid.
One of the vigil’s organisers, Betsey Drake, told ABC: “We decided as a community we were missing them too, even though we never met them.”
New South Wales Police said earlier this week that it would reduce the air and sea search for Palmer and Ferrieux after it was revealed more than 20 bull sharks were seen in the waters near where they went missing.