A four-year-old Australian girl who went missing on October 16 while camping with her parents was found “safe and sound” in a house on Wednesday, police said.
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, ‘What’s your name?’ ”, Explained Deputy Commissioner of Police Col Blanch. The little girl then replied: “My name is Cleo”.
The police, who forced the entrance to the house where she was staying at around 1 a.m., 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 hoped for with all our hearts 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.
Police have not given any details on the exact circumstances of Cloe’s disappearance or how she was found.
“We had followed a lot of leads and it got us to an individual’s house,” Mr. Dawson said simply to ABC Radio.
“The girl is as good as we could hope for under such circumstances,” he added.
She was taken care of by a medical team.
Police had offered a bounty of AU $ 1 million (CAN $ 920,982) last month for any information that would help locate Cleo.
At the time of her disappearance, Commissioner Rod Wilde said the investigation suggested “that she was abducted in the tent” and that authorities had reason to fear for her safety.