(Seychelles News Agency) - The search for a missing a German national in Seychelles has been called off, the police said Thursday.

The German national -- Peter-Klaus Helmut Bokemuller -- went missing on the island nation's third-most populated island of La Digue last week.  

A police statement said that since there was no sign of Bokemuller after a week of searching the operation was called off on Wednesday.

Bokemuller went missing in the mountainous area of Belle Vue. The 68-year-old along with his partner and three other Germans had gone walking in the area. He was staying at the Patatran hotel at Anse Patate in the north of the island.

His partner planned to leave Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, on Friday, the police said.

The search operation included police officers, rescue officers and helicopters.

This is the third incident in two years where German nationals visiting the island nation went missing.

In January last year, another German national -- Norbert Franz Fleischmann -- went missing on Praslin, the third-most populated island.

The police launched an extensive search by sea, land and air to find Fleischmann, but the search was called off the next month.

In May 2016, Gunter Lamprecht of Munich was reported missing on the day he was supposed to leave Seychelles. He was reported missing by the hotel where he had been staying after all of his personal belongings including passport were found on the day he was due to take his flight back to Germany.