The mother of missing botanist Jamie Taggart has said a new search for her son in mountainous north Vietnam began in difficult conditions under low and dense cloud
Jamie Taggart's mother Jill Mary is leading the new search for her son, who was last seen at the end of October 2013, and following the path he planned to take for the first time.
She discovered on her trip to Sa Pa that Mr Taggart had left details of the route he had intended to take on his trek to document undiscovered species of orchid or rhododendron.
Red-tape has also been negotiated to allow the fresh search.
She said: "The British Embassy in Hanoi has been exceptionally helpful in advance arrangements to speak to various officials and acting as interpreter for these meetings.
"Through these we were able to obtain permission for a new search that local tour guides believed had not previously been searched.
"So far there has been no result the clouds have been low and dense."
Greens co-convenor Patrick Harvie and then First Minister Alex Salmond have repeatedly pressed for diplomatic intervention.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office earlier wrote to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to raise the profile of the disappearance of Mr Taggart, 42, who runs the world-renowned Linn Botanic Gardens at Cove, Argyll and Bute.
His mother said funding for the planned search of three days by at least 15 people including food and overnight camping is partly to be paid for by family and friends and the rest by the Vietnamese Police Department.
Mr Taggart went missing two days into a plant-documenting trip.
The official search was called off in March last year but Mr Taggart's family and friends have raised thousands of pounds to fund continued searches and local investigations.
Actor Hugh Grant, who has close connections to the area, is among those to have offered support.
In October Mr Taggart's father, Jim Taggart, one of the most prominent botanists in Scotland who founded the gardens, called for more information and said: "Someone, somewhere must know something."
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