Fears are growing for the safety of a Co Tyrone schoolboy who went missing after visiting a Donegal nightclub on Sunday night. The last confirmed sighting of Brendan was by a member of the Gardaí. Supt John McFadden said: "Gardai actually spoke to him on two occasions that morning. They found him very friendly and nice and had no complaints about him. He said he was going to get a bus home."
Gardaí have found a pair of shoes three miles outside Donegal which they believe belong to 15-year-old Brendan Rushe. His mother, Ms Collette Rushe, yesterday said she did not expect to find him alive.
Brendan left the Co Tyrone town of Castlederg with two friends on Sunday night in one of three coaches ferrying youngsters to a disco in Donegal. Instead of returning home on the coach, Brendan told them he would take the last bus home at 3 a.m.
The shoes, thought to belong to him, were recovered at Druminnin, three miles north of Donegal.
Ms Rushe said she had no idea where her son went after leaving his friends. "They left him in the disco and he said he was getting a later bus home. The family are very distraught because Brendan would always have come home or contacted home. I don't expect to find him alive again - I would just like to find him at this stage."
His disappearance was completely out of character, she added.
Her husband, John, appealed to farmers to check their lands and outbuildings for any trace of Brendan. A coastguard helicopter took part in the search yesterday but had to return to base because of bad weather.
Police and the coastguard, as well as about 150 local people, have been concentrating their search around Lough Mourne and Lough Eske and along a feeder river north-east of Donegal. A crew from Killybegs coastguard has been combing the river banks along the road Brendan would have taken after leaving the disco.
Brendan is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, of slim build, and has dark-brown hair, cut short, and brown eyes. He wears braces on his teeth. He was wearing a cream shirt, grey trousers and black shoes and was carrying a black jumper.