Police have called off the search for a four-year-old boy in Australia after a huge three-week search failed to find any trace of him.
August ‘Gus’ Lamont went missing from his grandparents’ Outback homestead around 186 miles from Adelaide on September 27.
He was last seen playing outside by his grandmother around 5pm, but when she went to call for him 30 minutes later, he was nowhere to be found.
His disappearance triggered a massive hunt, one of the biggest operations in South Australis’s history, with hundreds of volunteers, cops, and the Australian Defence Force joining in.
However, all efforts have failed to produce any clue of what could have happened to Gus.
Police, who say they do not expect that foul play was involved, have said that although the search had been called off, they would continue investigating the case.
A statement today read: ‘The original search area extended well beyond this with the use of the mounted operations unit and Polair. This area has been estimated at 470 square kilometres.’
It added: ‘The fact Gus is a small child, the terrain is extremely rugged, harsh and subject to changing weather conditions has made the searching difficult and more challenging for those involved.’
At the start of the month, authorities announced they were scaling back the operation after a week of searching.
At the time, an official said: ‘While we’ve all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle was not eventuated,’ he said.
‘We’re confident that we’ve done absolutely everything we can to locate Gus within the search area, but despite our best efforts, we have not been able to locate him, and unfortunately, we are now having to scale back this search for Gus.’
However, last Tuesday, there was fresh hope as they announced that the hunt had been restarted with 80 personnel from the Defence Force.
Four-year-old August ‘Gus’ Lamont has been missing since Saturday, September 27. Today, police in Australia announced that they had called of the search for the boy
His disappearance led to one of the biggest operations in South Australia’s history, with the Australian Defence Force joining in
Since his disappearance, the search party has covered around 470 sq km. The search only yielded one bizarre clue – a single footprint that cops described as unusual.
Described as a shy but adventurous boy, Gus was last seen wearing a blue long-sleeved Minions T-shirt and a grey broad-brimmed hat.
Speaking about Gus’ family earlier this week, police commissioner Grant Stevens said: ‘You can imagine just how they are feeling… without having answers as to exactly where Gus is and what’s happened to him.
‘This would be traumatic for any family.’
This week, the Daily Mail pictured the boy’s parents, Joshua and Jessica, for the first time.
A task force consisting of 12 specialists will now continue to work on the case.
Detectives, however, have not ruled out the possibility that there could be future searches of the area.
The case has gripped Australia and prompted a flurry of online speculations and theories of what could have happened to the boy.
Cops were even forced to tell the public to desist from calling in with their opinions on the case.
Fake images of the boy made with AI have also been circulated on social media.
Gus’ parents, Joshua and Jessica were pictured for the first time this week by the Daily Mail
Gus was last seen in a blue Minions T-shirt and a grey broad-brimmed hat
Search teams have covered around around 470 sq km of ground. The only thing detectives found was a single footprint which they said was unusual
A picture exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail shows one of the wells that authorities and locals believe Gus may have fallen in
A local landowner revealed to the Daily Mail that other residents believe Gus may have fallen into one of the several pits that line the area.
He said: ‘I would be more worried about the unmarked wells and mines he may have fallen into. That’s the talk [among locals].
Some of the shafts and mines are easy to spot, but others are unmarked, only covered with weeds.
The local added: ‘Most aren’t on any maps. Some are easy to see, some definitely not… but hopefully [Gus] is just lost… and not perished.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .