The distraught wife of a missing tourist swept off a cliff in Lanzarote today admitted she has given up hope.

Mrs Maria Johnson speaking from her Queensbury home, three days after her husband Brian was washed away by a wave on the holiday island, said: "I think he's gone."

Brian, 45, of Coniston Avenue, had been photographing high waves with friend Ian Roebuck from Holmfirth, Huddersfield, when it is believed he was caught by the wave.

Fishing boats and helicopters were being used today to search the island's coastline for the pair, who were on a two-week hangliding holiday.

But Mrs Johnson, who was today waiting by the telephone for news at her home with daughter Kimberley, 17, said she believed he was dead.

She said: "I think he's gone, it would be a miracle if he's still alive.

"We love him very much and we miss him and wish he could just come through this.

"He's such a fit man, it's hard to believe he's not still alive.

"I knew something was wrong when he didn't phone on Monday, he rang every day."

The news of Brian's disappearance was broken to her on Monday night by the local police.

Mr Johnson, who worked as a fitter for a pharmaceutical company in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, set out with around 20 members of the Rochdale-based Dales Hangliding Club last Thursday for a two-week hang gliding holiday.

But because of high winds on the island he had only flown for three hours on Friday and had spent the weekend sight-seeing.

Mrs Johnson said: "They've been using helicopters to look for him and today they sent out a fishing boat.

"I don't know how many people he was with when it happened but no-one saw it, he just disappeared.

"He told us at the weekend the winds were so strong you could hardly stand up.

"It was cold and he had flown on Friday in his jeans.

"We always worried something would happen when he went away but he wasn't flying, he was just stood taking pictures."

Mrs Johnson, who was born in Spain and married 23 years ago, said her husband loved hangliding, cycling and running.

He had been a member of the Rochdale-based Dales Hangliding Club for more than ten years and regularly flew at venues in West Yorkshire.

It was the fourth time he had visited Lanzarote with the club.

Mrs Johnson said she was keeping in close contact with other club members who were staying on the island to help emergency services search for her husband.

But she added she and Kimberley, a pupil at Halifax Catholic High, had no plans to travel out to the island.

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