THE York sister of a student nurse who vanished during a trip to Germany told today how she took the phone call that sparked the alarm.

Francesca Kerton, 27, talked to the Evening Press at her York home, where she is anxiously waiting for news of her sister, Louise, 24.

Francesca, a chemistry lecturer at the University of York, last night returned to her house in Heslington Lane, York, after spending several days in Ostend, Belgium, putting up posters in a bid to find 24-year-old Louise.

A close schoolfriend of Lucie Blackman - the former air hostess found dead after going missing in Japan - Louise disappeared two weeks ago after her fianc's mother dropped her off in Aachen, Germany, to catch an Ostend train to travel home to Broadstairs, Kent.

Francesca said it was when she got a phone call from Louise's fianc, Peter Simon, that alarm bells began to ring.

He had been waiting at Dover to meet her, but she failed to turn up.

Francesca said: "Because she was in the same class as Lucie Blackman at school, the first thing that jumps into your head is 'Has the same thing happened to her?' It would be tragic.

"Obviously we are fearing the worst, but we are not giving up hope yet. She must have gone somewhere and somebody must have seen something.

"There just has to be a lead of some description in the next couple of weeks."

Francesca, along with her parents, Phil and Kath, sisters Angela and Marie, and brother Simon, visited a number of places, including bars and a weekend music festival, in their search for information.

Francesca said one woman told them about a "very strange" man who had followed her daughter around the Ostend train. The incident was reported to the police at the time and has now been included in the investigation.

The family has contacted a Belgian missing persons organisation and has also been given advice from Lucie Blackman's father, Tim.

British, German and Belgium police are expected to meet today in the investigation.

Francesca said: "It was good to go out there and to see that the Belgian population do care and are looking out for her. I think it is also keeping the rest of my family's hopes up - being out there doing something.

"We have ultimately got to find out one way or another what has happened to her."

Updated: 11:40 Tuesday, August 14, 2001