The mother of Fabian victim Nicole O' Connor has been scouring the St. David's coastline looking for a trace of her "precious jewel".

Franzine Burgess is praying some clue to the fate of her beloved daughter will be found, a shoe, a piece of clothing, just a sign, a symbol, anything to give her a chance to find out what really happened once the fatally powerful waves created by last week's Hurricane crashed on to the Causeway.

"Nobody can bring me my daughter, except the Lord," a tearful Mrs. Burgess told The Royal Gazette last night. "We have been standing around the rocks by the Causeway just hoping for a sign. I haven't seen my daughter, I just want to see my child again.

"We are just praying, hoping that she will be found. We want our daughter, our wife, our aunt, we want her back.

"It is not an impossibility that she will come back alive - we just want her back."

She said she thought the Police should widen their search for her daughter, looking further afield due to the strength of the storm rather than just in the immediate area around the Causeway.

Mrs. O'Connor, who was pregnant, had called her mother from the Causeway on that fateful Fabian Friday. She was one of three police workers in a cruiser that attempted to cross the bridge at around 2.30 p.m. last week.

Mrs. Burgess said she is ignoring the rumours flying around the Island about what happened and is trying not to read the papers or listen to the radio, she is just waiting at home - apart from trips to scour the coastline - trying to deal with the loss.

She said that her faith in God and the closeness of the family were helping her get through this "awful time".

Mrs. O' Connor held jobs at the Hamilton Princess in the beauty salon and at the Bank of Bermuda before joining the Police service.

"She was just starting her new life," said Mrs. Burgess. "She is a very positive, strong-willed, loving daughter. She was loving to us all. Joining the Police meant so much to her - honesty, faith, integrity, helping others and doing the right thing.

"She was very focussed. I just want to see her again."