A four-year-old Australian girl who went missing on October 16 while camping with her parents was found
“safe and sound”
Wednesday (November 3
)
in a house, police said.
Read also Behind the kidnapping of Mia, the conspiratorial nebula
Cleo Smith was missing while camping with her family in Western Australia.
Major air, sea and land searches involving around 100 police officers were immediately launched.
The girl was found by police at a locked house in Carnarvon, near where she was last seen 18 days earlier, police said.
“One of the officers hugged her and asked her
'What's your name?' Said Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch.
The little girl then replied,
"My name is Cleo."
A Million Dollar Reward
The police, who at around 1 a.m. forced the entrance to the house where she was staying, said they had arrested a man for questioning. He is 36 years old and has no ties to family, said Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson. Cleo joined her parents soon after.
"Our family is complete again,"
said her mother, Ellie Smith, in a message accompanying a photo of her daughter posted on Instagram. She had recounted her immense despair when she found out at 6 a.m. that the family tent was open and her eldest daughter was missing.
His statements sparked a tremendous outpouring of solidarity across Australia.
On a radio, Commissioner Blanch called the rescue
"simply incredible"
.
"It's very rare.
This is something we wholeheartedly hoped for and it has come true. ”
For two weeks, the search to find Cleo had been followed by the whole country.
Following the reunion between the little girl and her parents, many Australians have expressed their joy on social networks.
Read alsoSpain: a nine-year-old boy who was celebrating Halloween was kidnapped and killed
