Police investigating the disappearance of two sisters in Aberdeen have identified a body that was recovered from the River Dee in Aberdeen on Friday morning.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32 and originally from Hungary, were last seen on CCTV near the Dee at Aberdeen harbour early in the morning on Tuesday 7 January, walking towards a path along the river.
Police Scotland said they had told the sisters’ family that the body of a woman had been recovered at 7.55am on Friday. The force indicated it was Henrietta’s body that was found but stressed it had not yet been formally identified.
The force said divers and other specialist officers had been redeployed to carry out further searches of the river and the riverbanks for Eliza Huszti between Queen Elizabeth Bridge and Victoria Bridge.
Police Scotland had deployed divers, cadaver dogs and helicopters in the search for the women, who were part of triplets, soon after they were reported missing near the river on 7 January, but had called off those searches after nothing came to light.
Supt David Howieson said they were very keen to find both women but that the search was challenging because the river, which feeds into Aberdeen harbour, was tidal.
“Our thoughts are with the Huszti family today. We are keeping them fully updated following this recovery and the further search activity which is ongoing,” he said.
“Our priority remains finding both of the sisters and the search has focused on the River Dee and will do so in the coming days.
“Nothing from our extensive inquiries so far suggests either sister left the immediate area after they were last seen on Tuesday, 7 January. There is also nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances or criminality.”
The sisters moved to Aberdeen about 10 years ago and were said by their older brother, Jozsef, who lives in Budapest, to have been saving money to buy a flat in the city. He told the BBC their other triplet sister, Edit, had spoken to the women by video call on New Year’s Eve, and had found them happy and cheerful.
It was unclear whether any of the family had been to Aberdeen since the women went missing.
The sisters rented a flat in a well-maintained block north of the Bon Accord shopping centre, where one of the women reportedly worked.
The police said they had first been alerted to their disappearance by their landlady, who received a text message from Henrietta’s mobile phone at 2.12am on 7 January that indicated the sisters would not be returning to the flat. The phone was then cut off and has not been active since.
CCTV footage recovered by the police showed that the sisters had previously visited the path along the river that they are believed to have taken that morning, at 2.50pm the previous day.
CCTV from nearly 12 hours later, at 2.12am on 7 January, showed them walking from Market Street, past the container ships in Aberdeen harbour and across Victoria Bridge, which crosses the Dee where the river enters the harbour.
The police believe they then turned right along the path, which skirts a series of industrial units and garages, westwards towards Aberdeen boat club, where they vanished. The area has since been repeatedly searched by specialist teams including marine divers and police dogs.
