Police comb over 3000 tonnes of rubbish in search for missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague
POLICE have combed through more than 3,000 tons of waste in the hunt for missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague.
Eight officers have spent ten weeks sifting the 25ft high mound of rubbish at a dump.
They still need another week to finish the job as the waste at the site near Cambridge is so spread out, Suffolk police say.
Mr McKeague, 23, vanished in Bury St Edmunds in September.
A bin lorry seen on CCTV took a route matching the movements of his phone.
A police spokesman said it would continue for "at least a further week".
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The search of the originally identified area of the landfill site has been completed.
"However, towards the edges of the area it has also been noticed that the waste may have naturally shifted from the place where it was originally deposited and the search has been extended into these areas which may still hold the answer to Corrie's disappearance," said the Suffolk Police spokesman.
"Throughout the search, officers have found material that have indicated they are in the right area - finding waste that was clearly identifiable as being from Bury St Edmunds, and within the right time frame."
Corrie, originally from Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland, was last seen on CCTV at 3.20am entering a cul-de-sac loading bay area known as the Horseshoe in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
It would not be possible to leave the area without being seen cameras but there was no sign of him, police said.
There are various theories about what may have happened to the RAF serviceman.
Possible theories include that Corrie may have attempted to walk home and managed to dodge the cameras.
Corrie's mum Nicola recently searched the Suffolk countryside for her son
Another option is that he willingly got in a car with someone else close to the area, or that he was taken against his will.
The serviceman met his girlfriend April Oliver, 21, five months before his disappearance.
In a heartbreaking twist to the tale, she discovered she was pregnant two weeks after he went missing without a trace.
The police spokesperson added, "The officers carrying out the search have been working extremely hard in difficult circumstances - with the nature of the waste being searched through, safety considerations, the weather and the depth of the search required presenting a number of daily challenges,"
"Throughout the search Corrie has very much been in the forefront of officers' minds."
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