AN EXPERIENCED backpacker who works at a South Cerney adventure travel shop has gone missing in Nepal while on holiday.

Gareth Koch, 24, who is on the staff at Cotswold Outdoor Action and Travel in Broadway Lane, was last seen by a friend in the Sagarmatha National Park on March 5.

Mr Koch, who lives at Hamfield, near Wantage, made contact with his parents to let them know he had arrived safely in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, but nothing has been heard from him since.

He and a friend had planned to spend a month travelling through the country, returning on March 20, but separated while in the national park.

His friend returned home early on March 15.

Thames Valley Police are now liaising with their Nepalese counterparts and the British Embassy.

They have also launched an appeal for information on his whereabouts.

Acting Det Insp Geoff Webb of Didcot CID said: "We are very concerned about Gareth.

"He is an experienced back-packer who travels frequently.

"He was in full-time employment before he left and comes from a happy and stable home.

"It is totally out of character for him not to contact his family."

His worried father David appealed for anyone who might have been on holiday in the Himalayan kingdom and seen Gareth on his travels or had contact with him since February 21, to come forward.

He said: "It has now been seven weeks since we have heard from our son and we are getting very worried about what could have happened to him."

Mr Koch's mother Gill, 47, said it was very difficult to know what had happened to her son.

She said: "You go through everything. Has he just had an accident, is he out on a track somewhere because once you're in the national park there's no way of communicating.

"It's just impossible, you just can't come up with an answer."

She said she and her husband have hired a tracker to search for their son in Nepal but had no plans to go out themselves until they received any further news.

She added that the Foreign Office were checking hospitals and clinics daily on their behalf.

Gareth is described as white, 5ft 9ins tall, with light brown hair and an appendix scar.

He would have been dressed in outdoor clothing and would have had a rucksack with him.

His personality is said to be quiet.

Anyone with information is urged to contact CID at Didcot police station on 0845 850 5505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.