A PORT Seton woman’s call to police helped track down two Musselburgh teenagers who were missing for three days.
Ivana Scott, 15 and Noah Holmes, 14, went missing on Friday afternoon and were last seen at Loretto School heading along Goose Green Road in Musselburgh.
Sightings of the pair were then reported at Dunbar Railway Station, on the A1 near Morpeth and as far south as Newcastle as travelled by train and hitch-hiked.
Denise Cunningham, 48, noticed the missing teenagers when out with her son in Prestonpans on Monday. It is not known when the Loretto School pupils had returned to Scotland.
Denise said: “I saw the two kids at the bus stop.
"I didn’t recognise them and I thought they just looked a bit different from the kids you usually see.
"Then straight away, I just thought it looked like those kids that were missing.”
Denise then scrolled through her phone to check a police picture, realising the pair were definitely the teenagers who had gone missing.
She then called the police and was told to keep an eye on the duo until officers arrived at the scene.
She said: “I drove my van round, and parked in the loading bay right at the bus stop.
“We sat there for five minutes and then the bus came, and obviously they got on the bus so [the police] asked me to drive behind and stop at the bus stops with it.
“We got all the way past the Lagoons and, just as we got to the Levenhall roundabout, I could see the police van coming in the background.”
Denise then pulled over and the police stopped the bus, confirming to her that the pair were the missing teenagers.
She added: “I think if it wasn’t me, someone else would have noticed them, maybe the bus driver.”
As a mother herself, Denise said she did exactly what she would expect other people to do if her child had gone missing.
“I’ve never had a child missing for any longer than maybe an hour, but to be missing overnight is obviously quite worrying,” she said.
“I’m just glad it was them and I’m glad I phoned.”
Police Scotland announced on Monday afternoon that the teenagers had been found and that they were safe and well.
A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Ivana Scott, 15, and Noah Holmes, 14, reported missing from Musselburgh, have been traced safe and well.
“Thank you to everyone who responded to and shared our appeal.”
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