Change of strategy. Since 8 a.m. on Tuesday July 11, the hamlet of Haut-Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, where little Emile disappeared on Saturday, has been “sanctuary” by the police and “mopping up operations” of the tiny town began, said the public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains to AFP. “The work will continue but with specialized personnel, with the dogs, who are selective”, has explained Remy Avon. Follow our live.
Stopping the hunts with volunteers. Of the “specialized means in search of traces and clues” will now be deployed, announced the prefect, the searches already carried out having failed to locate the little boy in the initial perimeter of 5 km around the hamlet of Haut-Vernet and its 25 inhabitants, where Emile disappeared, in some 2 kilometers above the village of Vernet.
The closed hamlet. From Tuesday July 11, “The site will be closed to anyone from outside the town”specified the public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, Rémy Avon, according to which “all hypotheses remain valid, none is privileged and none is excluded”.
The calls are pouring in. Over 500 calls were received, but many to offer research assistance. There’s no “new elements likely to explain the disappearance of little Emile” despite “numerous witness hearings”, added the prosecutor, specifying that all the houses in the hamlet, apart from two abandoned ones, had been searched.