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Post by Admin on May 28, 2015 5:00:18 GMT
FIGURES published today show an alarming increase in the numbers of children reported missing, with more than 4,000 under-16s having disappeared throughout the world. Today is International Missing Children’s Day, aimed at raising awareness of the issue. For every high-profile case such as that of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old who went missing during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007, there are thousands more that attract less attention. The new figures from Missing Children Europe (MCE) show that more than half of children reported missing to MCE were found in the same year, yet there are still more than 4,000 under-16s presently unaccounted for in the world and numbers are rising. The figures don’t reflect the severity of the situation, as only 25 per cent of MCE’s data apply to non-EU countries. The statistical minefield is amplified by the number of categories in which a missing child can fall into: runaways, family abduction, unexplainable disappearances, child slavery, victims of criminal kidnappings and under-16 missing migrants, all of which underpin a system used by international organisations. International Missing Children’s Day stems from the disappearance of six-year-old Etan Patz in New York on May 25, 1979, and President Ronald Reagan’s decision to commemorate the date years later. Megami went missing as she walked home from school in the coastal area of Niigata Prefecture. She was reportedly dragged on to a boat by North Korean officials and forced to participate in a deadly spy training regime. Megami was one of at least 17 children to have fallen victim to the regime during the 1970s and 1980s. Philip disappeared as he walked back to school after spending lunchtime at his grandmother’s house. He never made it back to class. His body has never been found. On the day of her second birthday, Katrice disappeared from a British military shopping complex in the north-eastern region of Paderborn, West Germany. Nearby rivers were searched and door-to-door investigations quickly ensued, but no clues to the toddler’s whereabouts were uncovered.
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Post by Admin on Jun 1, 2015 5:00:43 GMT
In statements to the Cyprus News Agency, Executive Secretary of the Pancyprian Organization of the Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons, Nicos Theodosiou, said that if the Turkish army decides to provide the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) with the information it holds, then there will be major progress in a short period of time and pointed out that time is important for relatives. Referring to the joint appeal made on Thursday by the leaders of the two Cypriot communities (President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci) who called on “anyone who might possess information on possible burial sites of missing persons to share this information with the CMP without hesitation”, Theodosiou said that this appeal was a first positive step but noted that the leaders should be more concrete. “The appeal of the two leaders is very significant since it places this humanitarian issue on its proper basis, which is a matter of priority. But what is of importance is which practical steps we take to solve the problem of information”, he said. Theodosiou stressed that it would be important that the two leaders make “an appeal for exploiting the information – which exists in archives, particularly the archives of the Turkish army.”
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Post by Admin on Jun 3, 2015 4:46:11 GMT
A body has been found by police searching for a 13-year-old girl who has been missing for nearly three days. Amber Peat was last seen at home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire at 17:30 BST on Saturday. The body was found in the town. Formal identification has yet to take place but police said they were not treating the death as suspicious. Earlier, Amber's mother and stepfather said her disappearance was "completely out of character". Kelly and Danny Peat, who had just returned from holiday with Amber, confirmed she had left her home in Bosworth Street without her mobile phone or any money. They had issued an emotional plea for her to return, breaking down in tears as they spoke at a police press conference. Mr Peat said: "We had just all had a brilliant holiday. It's just not right. "We told her to clean a cool box out that we had had sandwiches in for the journey home. "It was a chore, basically, and I'm sure all teenagers are the same, she didn't want to do a chore. That was the last conversation." Ms Peat said: "We were in the living room and I heard the front door slam." "I heard the door and when I went out I couldn't see her anywhere. She had just gone." Up to 300 people were involved in searches on Monday and Tuesday, with posters being placed in many houses and shops.
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Post by Admin on Jun 5, 2015 6:09:15 GMT
MISSING schoolgirl Amber Peat was found hanging near her home, police revealed this evening. Amber Peat vanished from her home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, at about 5.30pm on Saturday after an argument over cleaning a cold box, it emerged today. Her stepfather Danny Peat said hundreds of people had helped search for his daughter since she left home without any money or a mobile phone. A post-mortem yesterday revealed that Amber, who was just 4ft tall, was found dead with a ligature around her neck in a hidden spot near her home on Tuesday evening. Her body was discovered in dense hedgerow four days after she went missing from her family home after refusing to clean out a cold box when the family returned from a half-term holiday to Cornwall. Superintendent Matt McFarlane, of Nottinghamshire Police, revealed Amber had been found by two police officers. He said: “Her body was out of sight and it would not have been apparent to anybody in the nearby area.” Amber’s classmates were being offered counselling last night following the discovery of her body, around a mile from the home she shared with her mother Kelly, stepfather Danny and her younger sisters Riley, 12, and Lily-Rose, one, in Mansfield, Notts. Kelly, 34, and Danny 31, said in a brief statement: “We will always remember Amber for her love of singing and dancing. “She was never happier than when reading to her younger sisters, and being surrounded by her family. “We will treasure the memories of our last family holiday together with our beautiful daughter, and we will miss her always.”
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Post by Admin on Jun 21, 2015 5:32:17 GMT
A shocking video has emerged of the moment furious British holidaymakers confronted a man they thought was trying to abduct their children. A crowd of enraged parents are seen surrounding the man as he is bundled into a police car after guests apprehended him, claiming he is part of a trafficking gang operating at the resort in Cyprus. The 19-year-old Bulgarian man is seen leaping from a window at the hotel as police officers hold the Britons back. The holidaymakers demand answers from hotel staff as a British woman shouts: 'It's another Madeleine McCann!' The hotel, local police and the Cypriot Embassy in London have all firmly denied that the man is a paedophile, amid concerns the claims have tarnished the country's reputation as a family-friendly holiday destination. The footage shot on a mobile phone shows enraged British holidaymakers swearing angrily as the man is hurried into the police car. One man can be heard repeatedly shouting: 'Why aren't they handcuffed?' As the vehicle drives off, tourists are seen protesting inside the hotel foyer, demanding answers from receptionists. One of the Britons shouts: 'Where are the rest of them [the alleged kidnappers]?' Another says: 'Why have you gone quiet? Why aren't you answering? You're supposed to be here to protect people.' A British woman adds: 'We've been told a child got snatched from here last week. '[It's] another Madeleine McCann!'A member of staff can be heard denying that any children have been abducted from the hotel.
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