A BUSINESSMAN'S disappearance has left family and friends baffled, five weeks after he vanished on an Australian paradise island.

David Eason, creative director of VB Communications in Baring Road, Beaconsfield, went missing during a guided tour of Fraser Island as part of a four-week adventure trip to Australia.

The 46-year-old and other tourists visited the island on March 28, and in the afternoon had the choice of staying in the van or making a trek to a nearby lake.

Mr Eason decided to take the walk up to Lake Wabby. He told the others he was having a cigarette and would catch them up.

He was never seen again. Mr Eason's passport and tickets were left in his hotel and his family say he is not the 'walkabout' kind.

Dan Conaghan, a close colleague and friend at VB Communications, said: "I have worked with him for 18 years. Basically from everything we've heard he is dead, but no-one can grieve and people here miss him.

"But we simply just don't know. We fear the worst but we hope for the best and all our sympathies are with his family.

"We cannot believe it's happened."

Mr Eason's family still have no clue to his whereabouts but police are convinced that he has not left Fraser Island.

His sister Janice flew to Australia to help with the search on Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, but to no avail.

Ms Eason said that something must have happened to her brother, who lives alone in Battersea, London. As far as she is concerned, everything at work and in his life was fine.

She said David commuted every day to VB Communications, a media and advertising company, where he has worked for about 17 or 18 years.

She added: "As far as I know nothing was wrong. I think there is something that's happened.

"The search was called off and I carried on for two days on my own trying to find him. There have been absolutely no traces of him so far.

"Since then I have been trying to put pressure on the authorities to resume the search."

The Australian police authorities say it is almost certain that Mr Eason is still on the island.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We would like to reassure David's family we don't consider this case closed and we remain determined to help in any way we can.

"We are keeping in touch with David's family regularly, Interpol and also the UK police and we share the family's frustration and hope there will be a break through soon."