IRISH teenager Patrick Halpin is still missing in London despite earlier reports that he had been located safe and well at a London airport.
His family are now continuing to search for him in the capital after enduring a painful period of false hope when they were told that the 18-year-old Dublin City University student had been located by airport security at Gatwick Airport.
But within minutes the distressed family was sent "back to square one" as police confirmed it was a false alarm.
Patrick had been due to return to Ireland today with the Dublin City University drama society after coming to London on Tuesday for the group’s annual theatre trip to the West End.
The group's block booking - with Patrick's name on it - is believed to have triggered the confusion, according to Patrick's family.
"Police thought due to the block booking that Patrick was on the plane, but when they searched it they discovered he was not on the plane," his sister Regina told The Irish Post.
"We are just back to square one now."
The 18-year-old, who is originally from Loughrea in Galway, has not been seen for more than 24 hours.
He disappeared from Zoo Bar in Leicester Square in the early hours of yesterday morning after leaving the nightclub to go to a nearby Burger King.
Miss Halpin, who travelled with her father to London this afternoon, received the news of the mix-up in a Leicester Square police office, near the scene of her brother's disappearance.
She then posted on Twitter: "Unfortunately there was a mixup of information. Patrick has not been found and we ask that you continue to help in anyway you can."
Patrick, who turned 18 last week, travelled to London on Tuesday morning with the Dublin City University drama society.
Miss Halpin previously told The Irish Post that her brother had never gone missing like this before.
“It would be completely out of character for Patrick to go off galavanting or to go missing without at least letting someone know where he was going,” she explained.
“He would have sent a text to somebody or somebody would have known where he was going whenever he went out and would go back to a friend’s house.
“This was definitely different. He was in a different city and has just turned 18, so he would have been quite excited at it all and that might have been a factor.”
Patrick, who plays hurling with local club Kilnadeema/Leitrim and was a part of Ireland’s under-18 volleyball team, had not visited London since his childhood.
Friends initially thought he was out buying food when he could not be found yesterday morning at the Astor Museum Hotel, where the drama society was staying.
But their fears grew when his phone continued to ring out and he did not collect his theatre tickets.
“Patrick had bought tickets to see the matinee performance of The Book of Mormon yesterday,” his sister said this morning.
“He was particularly excited about that and had been looking forward to it for ages. So when he did not come back to collect his tickets people realised something was wrong.
“That was when alarm bells went off and when they started to go and look in hospitals for him and contact the police.”
He is described as about 5′ 5″, with sandy brown hair and blue eyes.
The Metropolitan Police are advising that anyone in the United Kingdom with information can contact them on 101, or in Ireland can contact Gardaí.
They are now trawling through CCTV footage and have placed a tracker on Patrick’s phone.
