POLICE and army officials have called off their search for a missing man covering the sand dunes around St Annes.

Shane Collier, 21, was reported missing from his home in Kendray, Barnsley, on October 8 and has not been seen since, according to South Yorkshire Police.

Force spokesman Jim Greensmith said that during their inquiries officers entered another house in Kendray and discovered information leading them to Blackpool.

He said: "We have serious concerns for Mr Collier's safety. We have been making inquiries in Blackpool since last week.

"We have asked the Army to bring in some highly sophisticated search equipment which is being used on the sand dunes."

The digging is being concentrated on an area of the dunes near to the New Thursby nursing home, Clifton Drive North, St Annes and began yesterday (Wednesday Oct 31).

It is believed the search equipment can be used to locate bodies. Sniffer dogs were also being used in the search.

Officers are also understood to have liaised with Blackpool detectives in an effort to trace a second man in the resort, although his connection with the search for Mr Collier has not been confirmed.

Patricia Monteith, matron manager at the New Thursby nursing home, Clifton Drive North, said police officers had arrived to search the dunes on Tuesday (Oct 30).

"They were from Barnsley. They arrived quite late in the afternoon and two of the officers came in and introduced themselves," she said.

"They asked us if any of our staff were on duty on a certain date and they wanted to know had anything suspicious been noticed, strange cars and so on. I believe one of our night nurses said she saw a car."

Nursing home employee Judith Broadbent said the police had been concentrating their search on one area. "They have been all over this one area doing a sweep," she said.

And she said that she too had heard that another member of staff had seen men in a car parked near the home and thought it suspicious.

One resident said she counted around 12 officers setting off to search the dunes yesterday (Wednesday) and that a helicopter had also been hovering in the area during the search.

Mr Greensmith could not confirm if officers were expecting to find a body in the dunes, but said they may be searching the area "for some time".

Last night he confirmed that the search had been called off for the night. He said the site was being guarded and that a search would resume first thing in the morning (Thursday Nov 1).