Massive Search For Teen In Aruba

About 700 volunteers joined police, soldiers and FBI agents on Monday, combing scrubland and beaches on Aruba's southeastern tip in an unprecedented search for an Alabama teenager who vanished a week ago on a trip to the Dutch Caribbean island.

"We are a safe island, and we are a happy island,'' volunteer Erica Odor told CBS News Correspondent Kelly Cobiella.

Aruba's government let 4,000 civil servants off work early at 2 p.m. to hunt for Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama. The expanded search came a day after police charged two men in her disappearance.

The blonde honors student vanished May 30 while on a five-day trip with more than 100 classmates celebrating their high school graduation. Seven chaperones accompanied them.

The initial search idea called for an islandwide effort, but later changed to focus on the southeastern area of Seroe Colorado and part of San Nicolas, police commander Judy Hassell said. San Nicolas is where the two charged men were arrested.

"The change happened when we realized how big Aruba was," Hassell said. "We're going to do as much as we can."

Aruba's land area is about 74 sq. miles, slightly larger than Washington D.C.

One of several search parties scoured barren terrain spotted with sequoia cactus, prickly pear and sea grass in view of Valero oil refinery. A helicopter hovered overhead. Other groups searched abandoned houses, remote roads and bushes as lizards crossed their path.

Some volunteers were tourists, including young couple Bill and Sarah Wise, both 22, of Cleveland, Ohio. "We couldn't leave without trying to help a fellow American," Bill Wise said. His wife said the case hit home with her because she's about the same age as Holloway. "It could be me," she said.

Arubans and American residents and tourists have joined the search, upset that Holloway's disappearance could mar the image of this tranquil island. About 500,000 Americans visited Aruba last year.

Hassell said she asked the Justice Ministry for permission to conduct another big search Tuesday, but had not yet received permission.

The coast guard said that Aruba's shoreline had already been searched on foot, by boat and helicopter, but the new search was more thorough.

About 10 large coach buses waited outside a stadium in the community of Santa Cruz, about 6 miles from the capital, Oranjestad. Kenneth Angela and three co-workers from Aruba's lottery were among hundreds who boarded the buses.

"It's the first time Aruba has done such a big search," said Angela, a 31-year-old lottery supervisor. "We want to keep Aruba's name good. That's why we're here, to help find Natalee."

Holloway's disappearance has shaken a sense of safety many Arubans took for granted on an island of 97,000 people that saw one murder and six rapes last year. This year, there have been two murders and three rapes on the island, where the average annual income is a comfortable US $22,000.

The two suspects, aged 28 and 30, were arrested in a pre-dawn raid on Sunday. Police said the men work as security guards, and neighbors said they were guards at a hotel under renovation near the one where the teen was staying.

Officials have declined to provide specific charges, saying the case will go before a judge by Tuesday to determine whether they can be legally held. Authorities had not found any of Holloway's belongings at the suspects' homes.

Authorities impounded three vehicles and took bags of items from the two homes. An eight-member team of FBI agents supporting the investigation will help perform forensic testing on them, police said.

Police spokesman Edwin Comemencia said that authorities had not ruled out the possibility that other people were involved. The two men in custody were not among three others described Saturday by police as "persons of interest."

Authorities declined to comment whether there is a relationship between the suspects and three others, earlier described as students, who told police they dropped off Holloway at her hotel around 2 a.m. on May 30. Hotel employees, however, say that security cameras did not record her entry.

The night she disappeared, Holloway went to a beach concert and then ate and danced at Carlos' n Charlie's bar and restaurant. She did not show up for her return flight hours later, and police found her passport in her hotel room with her packed bags.

Police are investigating three main theories: Holloway was kidnapped; she went off on her own — a possibility her relatives discount; or some harm came to her.

Holloway, a straight-A student, had earned a full scholarship at the University of Alabama and planned to study a premedical course.

The Aruban government and local tourism organizations have offered a US $20,000 reward for information leading to Holloway's rescue. Her family and benefactors in Alabama have offered another US $30,000.

It's little solace to Holloway's fearful family.

"One happy island is there logo,'' Holloway's stepfather Jug Twitty told Cobiella. "Well I can tell you it's not happy for me right now."