Today, police divers began looking for Levi Davis, an X Factor contestant who has gone missing.
In the vicinity of the Catalan city, in the Llobregat Delta, one of Catalonia’s most significant wetland areas, the hunt is also on for Levi, 25, who it is believed drowned.
In a tweet announcing the hunt for Levi, who disappeared in October after landing in Barcelona from Ibiza, the regional police force Mossos d’Esquadra stated: “We continue investigating the disappearance of a man on October 29.”
‘We have mobilised the Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit to search the port of Barcelona and the Llobregat Delta. The case continues to be investigated.’
The search came weeks after his mother Julie Davis revealed police told her they now believe a man spotted in difficulties in the sea by crew on a cruise liner docking in Barcelona was likely to be her son.
There had been delays in the search for Levi due to red rape, but a spokesman for the police said Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit are now searching the waters.
A spokesman for the force added: ‘The search is being conducted by the Mossos’ Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit. It’s an underwater search with the Maritime Police in the boats and the divers involved belonging to the Aquatic Unit.
‘The search is taking place because of the possibility this person could have fallen into the water, from information received following his disappearance, around the time he was last seen.
‘Civil Guard and Coastguards carried out an initial exhaustive search but found no sign of him.
‘The possibility objects or clothes belonging to the man who disappeared were not ruled out and today in the two areas we are mentioning this new search has begun as part of the investigation.
‘The objective is to find any evidence that might support the theory of a possible accidental death by drowning.
‘The Llobregat Delta is in the southern part of Barcelona where the movement of the waters mean investigators think there could be something in that area.
‘The search began at 10am local time but I don’t have information at this stage about how long it will last. We are talking about an underwater search. Court of Investigation Number Seven which is the court overseeing this investigation is aware of today’s search.’
Police were not able to say how long the operation would last, although local reports say police are expected to conduct searches over several days.
Around the sixth month since Levi’s abduction, Spanish officials said late last month that no date had been set for the port and sea searches.
They disclosed that an examining magistrate looking into the mystery is still awaiting a report from the coastguards before determining when – and if – to sanction any fresh procedures, including the searches that the rugby player and family of the former X-Factor star were asking for.
Levi’s mother Julie Davis stated last month that she had been informed by Catalan police that they now felt a guy saw in trouble in the sea by staff on a cruise ship docked in Barcelona was likely to be her son.
Levi, who was 24 at the time of his disappearance, was captured on surveillance video leaving the Old Irish Pub near La Rambla in Barcelona at around 10 p.m. on October 29 after boarding a boat from Ibiza with just 40 euros (£35) and no other clothing.
Levi’s phone signal was last detected by a phone mast at the far end of the port closest to the sea entrance in the early hours of October 30, according to detectives who have informed Levi’s relatives.
Prior to his disappearance, it was believed that his cell phone’s last pinged location was near the city’s main Sants railway station.
The cruise ship MSC Bellissima, which docked in Barcelona around the same time, had four passengers who had reported seeing a man in the water wearing the same light-colored top as Levi and yelling for assistance in English. Julie claimed that the local Mossos d’Esquadra police had also informed her that they thought her son was likely to be that person.
A lifebuoy was tossed to him, and the Salvamar Mintaka and Helimer 203 of the Barcelona coast guard were dispatched. Along with police and Red Cross vehicles, a boat driven by firefighters was also dispatched to the scene.
The search operation is said to have lasted an entire day but was called off after it was confirmed no-one was missing from the cruise liner and police confirmed no-one had been reported missing in port waters or in the sea off Barcelona.
Levi’s disappearance had not been reported to police at the time and his passport was not found near a cargo shipment at the port until days later.
Prior to receiving an official complaint of a missing person from a friend of Levi’s who lives in Ibiza on November 12, Catalan police began their own independent search on November 8.
In February, police detectives acknowledged that they were treating his absence as “disturbing” and that the case had been given to a specialized criminal team that is collaborating with the investigating judge.
A Mossos d’Esquadra spokesman at the time indicated that there had been a substantial change in the manner in which the investigation was now being carried out and provided a more thorough explanation of why the change had occurred.
He said: ‘This case was initially investigated by a group of officers at the police station the disappearance was first reported to in Barcelona.
‘That’s the general procedure in cases where there are no obvious or very evident signs a disappearance is linked to a crime.
‘Now this case is being led by a specialist investigative unit based in Barcelona.
‘With the information at our disposal, it doesn’t appear that this person has gone missing voluntarily and doesn’t want to be found.
‘We’re dealing with an adult male whose disappearance doesn’t have a logical explanation and which we’re therefore treating as disturbing.
‘It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been the victim of a crime and it’s important to clarify that the group that’s now investigating this person’s disappearance is not a murder squad or homicide unit because that would mean there is a probability or certainty he is dead.
‘What it is is a unit which has been tasked with this case following the initial investigation by officers at the station where this person was reported missing.
‘It’s a higher level of investigation now and a more specialist investigation.’
The police revelation followed claims Levi was £100,000 in debt to Somali criminals and Levi said he had been blackmailed over a sex tape and his life was in danger in a chilling last video he recorded shortly before vanishing.
Levi played Premiership rugby union for Bath between 2017 and 2020, when he joined Ealing Trailfinders. A year later he signed for Worthing Raiders.
The rugby player-turned-reality star performed on X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 with fellow rugby players Ben Foden and Thom Evans as part of the group Try Star. In 2020 he appeared on E4 dating series Celebs Go Virtual Dating and became the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.