The father of missing Corrie McKeague described seeing the landfill site where he may be buried as like staring into hell.
Martin McKeague and wife Trisha visited the rubbish tip in Milton, near Cambridge, on Tuesday as police began their search.
The massive dump has become the focus of the hunt for RAF gunner Corrie since it emerged a bin lorry which collected in the area where he was last seen weighed more than first thought.
Corrie, originally from Dunfermline but based at RAF Honington, went missing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, on September 24
CCTV footage showed him walking into a loading bay known as The Horseshoe at 3.25am but he was never seen coming back out.
A private refuse lorry emptied a bin from The Horseshoe early on the Saturday morning. It has since emerged the lorry’s load was incorrectly weighed and was actually much heavier than previously thought.
Corrie’s mother, Nicola Urquhart said the discovery could mean “only one thing.”
Martin, a former binman for Perth and Kinross Council, said: “Honestly, it was like staring into a little piece of hell.
“We’ve been agonising over this day since it became the strongest line of enquiry into Corrie’s disappearance.
“The thought that my son could be buried somewhere underfoot in a landfill site is probably the most excruciating thought a parent can have.”
Martin, of Cupar, said he and Trisha shook the hands of officers about to carry out what he said was a “hellish task” which he wished he could help with but is not allowed.
He said: “These people have a mammoth task ahead, and the Suffolk police have carried out this investigation with class and integrity, and have made this search possible.
“The McKeague family in Scotland has given them our unwavering support since this investigation began, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.”
Mrs Urquhart, of Dunfermline, said it was inevitable her son’s body would be found in the landfill site.
Police said the weight of the bin lorry’s load was originally thought to be 11kg, too light for a body, but is now known to have been more than 100kg.
The vehicle followed a route which appeared to coincide with the signal from Corrie’s mobile phone, said Suffolk Police.
In an interview with the BBC Nicola said: “We know we are going to find Corrie in the landfill, it’s just a matter of time now.”
She said there was no way realistically that her son was not in the bin collected.
She said: “Regardless of how he has ended up in there I don’t understand how the process has allowed him to get into landfill.
“That was the one thing that was trying to keep me believing Corrie could still be alive.
“I was so sure, because of what the police have said to us, that he couldn’t go through that process. It doesn’t appear that that’s the case now.
“It’s really difficult to accept.”
The search of the landfill site began on Monday, after 8,000 tonnes of material was moved to make it safe, and is expected to take 10 weeks.
He was arrested after police discovered the discrepancy in the vehicle’s weight, however detectives now believe there was no attempt to hide information.
