Missing toddler in France since Saturday

[Neverinamonthofsundays]

Hope this little lad is found safe and well.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-toddler-emile-missing-latest-news-b2373637.html

The search for a missing two-year-old is “at the same point” as it was yesterday, the local prosecutor has said in an update as helicopters spent Tuesday broadcasting a recording of his mother’s voice.
Two-year-old Emile was last seen playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute department of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, with his grandparents notifying the police of his disappearance at around 5.15pm local time on Saturday.
Airborne search teams were instructed to play the recording “as loud as possible” in the hopes of finding the toddler.
However, the investigation still has “no information”, with the prosecutor urging the public to “give the gendarmes time” as investigators probe the 1,200 calls received on the dedicated case line.
“We have no clue, no information, no element that can help us understand this disappearance. We are at the same point than yesterday at the same time”, Rémy Avon, public prosecutor for Digne-les-Bains, told a press conference on Tuesday evening.
“The 30 buildings that make up the Haut-Vernet building were completely visited. 25 people were heard, 12 vehicles visited, 12 hectares raked”, Mr Avon added.

I was taken aback from the first moment, that...
he was unsupervised while they 'prepared for the day'
he was reported missing at 5.30pm
He was seen walking by 2 people who lost sight of him.

I've hung around small children waiting for their adult to appear. Why wouldn't you?

I wondered whether there were translation issues. If not, it's odd.

Poor Emile.

@pickledandpuzzled

I don't think it's a language issue, that's pretty much how events have been described in French media.

It's a small commune, it was not uncommon for the few kids that lived in the village to play in/walk around on the streets on their own and generally they were left to get on with it...the theory being the village as a collective kept an eyes on goings on (and there is very much a tendency for curtains to twitch in the small villages here).

From what we know so far that doesn't seen to have worked in this case and with hindsight I'm sure the adults involved would have acted differently.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/disparition-du-petit-emile/disparition-du-petit-emile-pourquoi-les-deux-temoins-qui-ont-apercu-le-petit-garcon-n-ont-ils-pas-essaye-de-l-intercepter_5942078.html

I cannot believe this has had no coverage in the UK, i guess we are all more interested in Huw Edwards & Wimbledon.

Been listening to BBC news for the last 45mins and there has been nothing, zilch.

It's been on some UK news websites for days. Itv news it has been one of the most popular news stories since a day or 2 after it happened.

Why would you expect it to make UK news?

Not every child disappearance /child murder in the UK makes it into the French media and I can't recall much (if any) coverage of even something as big as the Nicola Bulley story being covered here (France).

There was a shooting of an English family in France about a month ago where a young girl was killed in her own back garden and I started a thread saying I was surprised it wasn't on Le Monde website, even on their Brittany page where it happened. I also noticed Emile wasn't on Le Monde the other day.
I've been following the Emile story since the beginning on English news sites. Probably depends where you read your news. I no longer read BBC news so don't know about that

If you Google "Emile Missing France" and click on News, you'll see all the UK sites that have been covering it

Adults going missing is one thing (we went completely over board with the Bulley story and it was covered in Germany at least)- children quite another, esp in such a quiet area.

Yes i would expect this to at least get a mention on UK mainstream news, have we become so insular now?

No. There's pages and pages of UK articles. Here's just the first few

I'm still not sure I'd expect a missing child case in France to get any sort of major news attention in the UK press, at least for several days - I gather there are for example an alarming number of child disappearances in the US that don't get much coverage in UK or French media either..

I'm not sure that's a case of the UK being insular, it's just the way news, worldwide works...

The main thing is the Emile story has had and continues to get, major coverage here in France, and quite rightly so.

I've seen a similar story line on TV, the guy who accidentally ran over a child had been drinking, therefore did not go to the police and hid the body.
Not excusing this sort of behaviour.

@GrapeHyacinth

No. There's pages and pages of UK articles

Yep, there are now that it's being discussed social media ( such as this place), and only when the story is several days old. Also one of those is still headlining the bloody car despite the news yesterday.

I think the question being asked was why didn't it make headline news (e.g. BBC) a few days ago...and I think the reason was at that point it wasn't really newsworthy enough outside of France...

How disgusting of her to post a tweet like that.

The extended family were apparently "preparing to go out for the day" when he went missing but it wasn't reported until 5:15pm local time???

As I said I've been following it on ITV news from early on and it was one of the most read stories. It was also on other news sites from early on. I no longer read BBC news whereas that seems to be what you're commenting on. Not true that no UK sites have been covering it til now though

A fellow parishioner of the family back home had a very different opinion

"They are very good people. A happy, carefree and problem-free family, very loving and very believing . It seems incredible, inconceivable. These two women who saw it, why did they remain inert?" asks Thérèse, retired and resident of La Bouilladisse."

https://www.bfmtv.com/marseille/disparition-d-emile-a-la-bouilladisse-ville-d-origine-du-petit-garcon-des-habitants-evoquent-une-famille-heureuse_AV-202307120810.html

@GrapeHyacinth

*@GrapeHyacinth

OK...I'll have to take your word on it on ITV, if they were actually headlining as early as the French media were ( Sunday ) I'm impressed...

@LaraPeople

The extended family were apparently "preparing to go out for the day" when he went missing but it wasn't reported until 5:15pm local time???

AFAIK the version events being told by the authorities doesn't definitely imply that the family planned to go out in the AM, noticed he was missing early in the say but only reported it several hours later..

So far all that is being said seems to be that there was a big family gathering at the maternal Grandparents home (so could well have involved lunch and beyond, don't know), multiple family members mostly (?all) adults milling around. Emile was noticed to be missing late PM....different sources are giving different timings on that call.

Segolene Royal should keep her opinions to herself instead of playing armchair detective over twitter IMHO. Public figures with no direct information criticizing police and pointing the finger at certain family members reminds me of the whole little Gregory media circus and mother being accused and imprisoned.

Public figures with no direct information criticizing police and pointing the finger at certain family members reminds me of the whole little Gregory media circus and mother being accused and imprisoned.

Not that it has stopped posters on social media, who have even less information!

People need to stop speculating based on a few lines in newspapers where facts can be lost "in translation". We have no idea how long it was between him being noticed as missing and a report being offocially made, but we are also talking about an exceptionally small community where everyone knows everyone else, and the nearest authorities are likely miles away. Having lived in such small and relatively isolated areas, it would be far from uncommon to (a) assume he has just wondered off somewhere and so (b) to search for him and check around all the neighbours and likely spots he might havegone to. Not everyone will leap to the worst possible outcomes and call in the troops. That doesn't mean that there may not have been foul play, but in many places that isn't the first, or even the second, place that people's minds go to.

It would be best if everyone curtailed their speculation and didn't start saying "it'll be family" or whatever - we could, you know, just wait for the actual facts before organising the lynch mob.

@Quveas

Well said.

That doesn't mean that there may not have been foul play, but in many places that isn't the first, or even the second, place that people's minds go to.

Agreed, and of course for context like many parts of upland France it's fairly unforgiving area with regard to terrain and survival, and a very hard area to search..

All options remain open.

For a small area it has had its fait share of sorrow.

mmmmm i posted today, i wouldn't expect any missing child story, even in the UK to make national news on the day they went missing, 99% of missing kids turn up very quickly.

But at least its getting traction now, the reason it should get coverage (after a few days) is the numbers of UK tourists who visit France, who may have seen something relevant, assuming this disappearance is a result of criminal activity and not an accident.

Children around the world go missing every day. Why would the UK report on them all? They don’t even report on all the UK missing children.

At the beginning the police were saying they didn't think he had been abducted. I'm wondering if he was hot and thirsty and came to a river (there look to be rivers in the area.) Maybe a similar case to Nicola Bulley where he fell in and got washed away.

I e seen reports that the dad had a “very worrying profile” but no explanation of this. What do they mean?