A bin lorry at the centre of the investigation into missing RAF serviceman Corrie Mckeague was carrying a significantly heavier load than was first thought, police have said.
Mr Mckeague disappeared in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 24 September.
Police believed the lorry which picked up bins near where he was last seen was carrying 11kg (1st 10lb), but now know it was more than 100kg (15st 10lb).
A man arrested in connection with the investigation faces no further action.
A search of a landfill site in Cambridgeshire started on Monday.
The refuse truck was seized and examined shortly after 23-year-old Mr Mckeague, from Dunfermline, went missing.
However, no traces of the RAF gunner were found and the weight of the load was deemed too light to include a body.
But Suffolk Police now says that after “extensive work to check and re-check data provided to officers” the weight was “incorrect” and “far higher than originally thought”.
Mr Mckeague’s mother, Nicola Urquhart, reacted to the news on Facebook, saying: “This can really, devastatingly, only mean one thing.
“I can only pray that Corrie is found quickly and that we are able to get answers as to how this could have happened.”
She told BBC Scotland: “It’s incredibly difficult, we’re taking it one day at a time, just waiting for the phone to ring.
“My whole focus has been on trying to get this avenue investigated.”
Suffolk Police said the dispute over the size of the refuse collection led to the arrest of a 26-year-old man.
He was questioned on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice, but detectives now believe a genuine mistake was made and he has been released from police bail without charge.
