CNN - TROUBLED COWSILLS STAR MISSING IN NEW ORLEANS

Sixties pop family the COWSILLS are desperately looking for missing guitarist BARRY COWSILL after he left his sister a desperate phone message from the eye of Hurricane Katrina.

The troubled pop star, who has had substance abuse problems, was caught in New Orleans, Louisiana, as the storm hit the city last month (AUG05) and his siblings feared he'd been washed away.

But then the guitarist made a desperate phone plea for help, in which he stated, "I don't know how to get out of town except wait for a bus... I've been so lonely."

The family heard nothing more but, in a video of survivors posted on the CNN website, brother BOB says he spotted a man who looked like his missing brother.

And now Bob has called on US TV news Entertainment Tonight to help the family find missing Barry.

Appearing on the programme last night (22SEP05), he said, "We saw him on the video. We're pretty sure that's him, and if it was him, it meant he was at the (New Orleans) Convention Centre."

Ironically, Barry was days away from flying out to Los Angeles, where he was planning to enter a rehabilitation facility to battle his substance abuse problems.

Bob Cowsill fears his brother has suffered a head injury and doesn't know who or where he is - and urged him, in his television message, to "recognise" his sibling and get back in touch, promising him help within 24 hours of his call.