The president's office of the Formentera Council reports that at roughly 7.00pm on Sunday the island's emergency apparatus was activated when a 112 caller alerted the authorities that a 90-year-old man had gone missing in the area of sa Talaiassa. The man had gone out walking at 5.00pm and had yet to return home, leaving his family quite worried.

A search-and-rescue plan was immediately put in motion that involved a dozen Civil Protection volunteers, a pair of two-person Guardia Civil units, two members of the Council fire brigade, and a group of a dozen relatives, friends and acquaintances that took to the man's usual walking routes in an effort to locate him.

Shortly before 8.00pm a group of Civil Protection volunteers and a canine helper picked up the man's scent and located him near camí des Ram. Formentera firefighters took charge of transporting the man, conscious and in good health but for a case of the chills, to hospital.

This is the second search operation in the last week on Formentera. Last week another person went missing in es Cap. The two operations have proven the Civil Protection forces to be a large, fast-acting corps of volunteers capable of collaborating with the island's other emergency response teams in giving islanders and visitors a quality, not to mention altruistic and professional, service.