'Herculean' efforts underway to find Kent 16-year-old James Gibbons who remains missing

A large-scale search was launched over the weekend in a bid to find a missing Kent boy. James Gibbons was last seen in Cuxton, near Rochester, at 12.52pm on Saturday, November 9.

Despite ‘herculean’ efforts to find him, the 16-year-old remains missing. A total of 69 Kent Search and Rescue teams undertook “86 separate tasks”.

Between Saturday (November 16) and Sunday (November 17), 63 area and route searches were completed. A spokesperson for Kent Search and Rescue said 675km were walked cumulatively by team members, and 1,500 acres were searched.

READ MORE: CCTV image released after man punched in face in Dartford bar

READ MORE: Health warning for drying clothes indoors plus safer and cost -effective alternatives

A total of 1110 hours of time were volunteered by KSAR members. The spokesperson said: “None of this would be possible without support from The Salvation Army South East Division, South East 4X4 Response and the community in and around Cuxton.”

This comes as the family of the missing boy released an emotional statement on Saturday to mark one week since he was last seen. After thanking all of the individuals involved in the search, they delivered a personal message to James.

“James, if you receive this message, please come home. Everyone is missing you and we love you dearly. You are not in any trouble. Love you lots,” the statement said.

James is described as being approximately 5ft 11ins with brown hair. He wears braces on his teeth and has a scar on the right side of the back of his head that is described as being similar in shape to a question mark.

He is believed to have been wearing brown tracksuit bottoms, a grey zipped hooded top, a white shirt with a light brown/blue chequered pattern, black socks and black material trainers.

Get more news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE.