PORT ELIZABETH - BUSINESSMAN STILL MISSING, LAST SEEN ON THURSDAY

Chartered accountant Alan Cousins last seen in car on CCTV on Thursday

THE search for missing Port Elizabeth businessman Alan Cousins has been escalated to a countrywide investigation after efforts to locate him in the last five days failed.

Cousins, 65, a chartered accountant who runs his own business, was last seen on CCTV camera driving out of the Engen service station in Ring Road, Greenacres, in his white C-Class Mercedes Benz at about 6am on Thursday. Friends and family have been searching for him and circulating his picture on social media platforms since Friday afternoon.

“This is just so bizarre. We are all devastated and worried,” Cousins’ niece, Paula Casali, said yesterday.

“It is impossible for someone to just vanish into thin air.

“Friends and family have been riding around the city looking for him at all his regular visiting places. We have phoned hospitals and police stations from Port Elizabeth to the Garden Route twice a day to see if he is not there.

“This is totally unusual for him and out of character to stop all contact and disappear.”

Cousins, who started Alan Cousins and Associates about 12 years ago, lives by himself in Richmond Hill. He was reported missing on Friday afternoon.

The alarm was raised and reported to police after he failed to arrive for work on Thursday and again on Friday.

“On Thursday, staff started phoning around but the search intensified on Friday when no one could reach him,” Casali said.

VIA - heraldlive.co.za