France fears for girl Maelys missing since Isere wedding

by Dramelin 4:00 AM 0 comments

Concern is growing over the fate of a nine-year-old girl who vanished while attending a wedding in eastern France.
The girl, Maëlys De Araujo, was last seen in a children`s room at about 03:00 on Sunday (01:00 GMT).
Extensive searches of the area around the wedding hall using a helicopter and police dogs have thus far failed to find a trace of the girl.
A kidnapping investigation has begun and police have issued an appeal for witnesses.
Police have already interviewed all 180 attendees at the wedding, which took place in a hall in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isère.
Reports say they will now begin questioning friends and relatives of the girl and her family who did not attend.
Maëlys was at the wedding along with her mother - cousin of the bride - father, and older sister.
They are said to live in the nearby department of Jura.
A guest, Gregory, told Le Parisien news site what had happened when guests realised the girl was missing.
"The DJ for the evening announced on the microphone that a child had disappeared.
Suddenly, everyone started searching, in the main hall and outside.
"It was anguish.
To see the disappearance of a nine-year-old, that`s not nothing.
We initially thought she must be asleep in a corner after a game of hide-and-seek.
After an hour, as we`d found nothing, the police were alerted.
" Gregory said he believed that a kidnapping had taken place.
Reports also say police dogs failed to find any scent of the girl beyond the car park of the wedding hall, suggesting the girl did not run away.
Police, firefighters and volunteer firefighters have searched woodland nearby, a nearby river and even sewers.
"Given the time that has elapsed since her disappearance" and "the means deployed to find her, no accidental or criminal track has been ruled out," said a local prosecutor, Dietlind Baudoin, in a statement.
Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward to help find Maëlys, who they say is 130cm tall (4`3"), weighs 28kg (4st 6lb), has dark skin, brown eyes and hair, and was wearing a white sleeveless dress.