It is the miracle of the day, a rescue “simply incredible”, according to the police. A four-year-old Australian girl who went missing on October 16 was found “safe and sound” Wednesday, November 3, police said. Cleo Smith was missing while camping with her family in Western Australia. The girl was recognized by police at a locked house in Carnarvon, near where she was last seen 18 days earlier.
The investigators, who forced the entrance to the house where she was 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.
However, they did not give any details on the exact circumstances of Cleo’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. “Under such circumstances, the girl is as good as we could hope for,” he added. She was nevertheless taken care of by a medical team. “Such a rescue is very rare. This is something we had hoped for with all our hearts and it has come true, ”Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch commented on the radio. Western Australian Police even shared the good news on their Twitter account.
A video showing the girl and the police, presumably shortly after the rescue, was also posted on the same account.
On October 16, as the family camped near the country’s west coast, mother Ellie Smith was shocked to discover around 6 a.m. that the tent was open and Cleo’s mattress was empty. Major air, sea and land searches involving around 100 police officers were immediately launched. The police had even announced to offer a bonus of one million Australian dollars (640,000 euros) for any information which would help to find the girl.
The affair very quickly sparked a huge outpouring of solidarity across Australia. 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.
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