“No clue, no information": French police issue update about missing Emile, 2, as search for boy who vanished on holiday
12 July 2023, 15:37 | Updated: 12 July 2023, 16:03
French police have been stumped by the mystery disappearance of two-year-old French boy Emile - admitting that they have no clues into where he went after vanishing from his grandparents' house.
French public prosecutor Rémy Avon told the press: "At the moment we have no clue, no information, no element that can help us understand this disappearance".
They admitted that no progress has been made on the continuing probe since Sunday - but stressed that all investigative tools are being used to find the tot.
Emile, who lives in Marseille with his parents, was on holiday with his grandparents in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence when he went missing.
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"We are at the same point as the day before yesterday after receiving the two testimonies", Mr Avon said.
"We are really pushing the investigations on the ground as much as we can," he added.
More than 800 gendarmes, firefighters, volunteers, helicopters, thermic camera drones, and sniffer dogs have been utilised in the search so far, but police have admitted that they need to consider other possibilities.
"Either the body was concealed after an accident, or it was removed", a gendarmerie spokesperson said, adding that sniffer dogs would have found a body in the region by now.
"It is obvious that, after 48 hours, we have switched to another dimension. Hearings are underway," the gendarmerie spokesperson said, referring to interviews with potential witnesses
Mr Avon told reporters: "Medically we are told that beyond a period of 48 hours, given the young age of the child, given his constitution', and the possibility that he will be deprived of water and food with the current heat, the vital prognosis is very very committed".
