SEARCHES were mounted for two missing Scots yesterday in the aftermath of the severe weather conditions which swept the country.
Rescuers were seeking a driver who disappeared after trying to cross a causeway in Argyll.
Concern grew in the hunt for 70-year-old Len Bennett, who was driving to the Mull of Kintyre from Davaar Island, after his car was found underwater near the
Doirlinn, a causeway between the island and Campbeltown.
The driver's door of the car was open but there was no sign of the pensioner, reported missing by his family when he failed to return home last Friday.
Officers from Strathclyde Police were last night searching for him along with the coastguard, lifeguard, and mountain rescue teams.
A fisheries protection vessel and both a police and Royal Navy helicopters were deployed in the search.
A coastguard spokesman said : "There was no person in the vehicle, so we do not know what has happened, but the search will continue to try to locate him."
Tayside rescuers were looking for an Edinburgh woman missing on the Perthshire hills in the wake of heavy snowfalls.
The 48-year-old woman went missing in the Glen Derby area and a police spokeswoman said the conditions in the area were "pretty horrible", adding that there was snow on the ground and there had been some sleet showers overnight.
The search was focusing on the area around the village of Kirkmichael, east of Pitlochry. It is believed the woman went out to take photographs.
In a separate incident, Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team were called out to help a party of three climbers who got into difficulties on the summit of Ben Nevis on Friday.
The group became unable to navigate off the plateau due to the whiteout conditions.
The mountain rescue team, with a search and rescue helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth, managed to find the climbers, who were then helped off the mountain.
They were all from the Lancaster area and one of the three was taken to the Belford Hospital in Fort William suffering from a knee injury, before being released after treatment.
Meanwhile, forecasters predicted a week of unsettled weather, with strong winds from the south-west and snow settling on high ground.
A Met Office spokesman said: "Temperatures will be more or less normal for the time of year with snow on higher ground. It will be unsettled and blustery."
The full article contains 409 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
