A £20,000 reward is being offered in an effort to solve the mysterious disappearance of a Scottish student in the Himalayas 34 years ago.
Her family believe that Alison Macdonald from Lewis is still alive.
The minister’s daughter was 19 when she vanished while on holiday with a friend, Liz Merry.
Now her father is using £20,000 from his savings for the reward that might lead to her whereabouts.
Miss Macdonald and her friend, who later became a GP in Scotland, reached the village of Sonamarg, 9,000ft up in the Kashmir mountains.
Miss Merry went on a two-day trip to the Kolahoi glacier, while Alison stayed behind.
On August 17, 1981, she went for a walk, and was last seen buying apples from a trader. Her clothes and rucksack were found in her room, and Alison’s disappearance was relayed to her family six days later.
Alison’s family have spent thousands of pounds trying to unearth clues to her disappearance.
Her father Kenny, now in his 80s, and living in Golspie with his wife Reta, have made 17 trips to the region, which is embroiled in a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan.
Miss Macdonald was a student at the University of Aberdeen when she disappeared.
Her father, a retired Free Church of Scotland minister, has said he still believed he would see his daughter before his failing eyesight became worse.
He believes she was kidnapped.
Now a Facebook campaign (
https://www.facebook.com/letsfindalison
) has already had more than 4,700 likes. The website www.letsfindalison.com has also been well visited.
Macdonald, 80, said: “It is the first time we have used this amount, but we thought it was worth trying.
“When she first disappeared we offered £7,000 reward and it produced some leads but none led to Alison.
“We have been reluctant since to offer a cash reward because it might attract the wrong person.
“But we have now decided to use our family savings as part of using every means possible to find Alison. It may be a good thing. It may be a bad thing. But we are trying and are hopeful it will produce results.
“We have put up a reconstruction of how we think Alison looks now and the poster also has translations in other languages including Urdu.
“I still have some eyesight left and I am willing to travel to India or wherever to find her. I am sure she is still alive and I pray that I will be able to see Alison again one day, hopefully soon.”