To locate Émile, a two year old boy who vanished in a mountainous area, authorities announced that efforts in the French southeast, specifically Vernet, had not yielded results by Monday and would resume on Tuesday.
We have not been able to locate the juvenile at the moment, said the district governor, Marc Chappuis, during a press conference outlining the course of operations in the Alps region of Haute-Provence.
Chappuis also noted that there were new leads and that the search would continue in a more focused and selective manner.
Nearly two hundred local volunteers joined forces with around a hundred police officers and local firefighters to search for Émile, who disappeared from his grandparents house garden on Saturday.
Police emphasized that there is no indication of a crime at this stage. The authorities have ruled out the possibility that the child ran away on his own or that a kidnapping occurred so far, though they continue to investigate all reasonable scenarios.
The Digne-les-Bains prosecutor Rémy Avon stated that there are no elements pointing toward criminal behavior in the disappearance.
The last known sighting of the boy was of two people walking alone on a street; their traces have since vanished from the scene.
Search operations have extended to nearby forests and fields in Haut-Vernet, a sparsely populated area north of Nice, where in some places residents number only a few dozen and the housing is dispersed across rugged terrain.
Witnesses were asked to come forward during the ongoing inquiry and the public was urged to share any observations that could help locate Émile.
On social media, a call for witnesses was issued soon after the disappearance in Vernet on a Saturday in early July, drawing attention from national law enforcement and local residents alike. The National Gendarmerie shared information to assist in the investigation and asked the public to report any relevant details.
On vacation at grandparents house
The young boy had arrived to spend time with his maternal grandparents in Haut-Vernet when he disappeared on Saturday afternoon. The Digne prosecutor stressed that Émile was alone at the time he was last seen by two neighbors on a village street at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, creating a point of focus for investigators.
Since then, hundreds of volunteers have joined the search, including Roxanne, a 19-year-old who, along with two relatives, traveled from Bouilladisse in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, where Émile’s parents come from. The trio describes themselves as friends of the family and arrived early Monday morning to participate in the hunt.
“We took part in a large search this morning with about fifty people,” the young woman told France Presse. The search area is rugged and mountainous, with small streams weaving through the landscape. If the child is indeed lost, the conditions imply he could have spent multiple nights in harsh heat, with limited navigation and water, adding urgency to the mission.
The investigation into the disappearance on Sunday was assigned to the Marseille gendarmerie investigation division, supported by the Digne-les-Bains gendarmerie investigation brigade. The cooperative effort reflects the scale and seriousness of the case.
Vernet sits in the Trois Evêchés massif at an altitude around 1,200 meters. The region is known for its alpine terrain and dramatic vistas. A historic accident nearby once drew international attention when a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed in 2015, resulting in the loss of 149 lives. An obelisk now stands in Vernet as a somber tribute to the victims from many nations.
The focus of the search remains to establish what happened to Émile as volunteers and authorities dig through the terrain and canvass households in the area. The team continues to coordinate logistics, maintain communication with residents, and pursue every credible lead, guided by a belief that the child will be found safe and sound.