WALVIS BAY – The Namibian police and the Omatjete community are racing against time to find a five-year-old boy Ponno Vapirije, who went missing at the settlement on Saturday morning.
A very worried acting Crime Investigations Coordinator in the Erongo Region, Chief Inspector Erastus Iikuyu yesterday told New Era that the toddler who lives with his grandparents on the farm Omborontho in the Karibib district apparently went missing around 11h00 on Saturday morning. Iikuyu explained the boy accompanied his grandfather to collect some firewood with a donkeycart. He was left on the donkeycart, while his grandfather went to collect wood at a nearby clump of trees. “When the grandfather returned the boy was nowhere to be found. After a long search the grandfather went back to the settlement and informed the community, which immediately formed a search party with the assistance of the police. According to Iikuyu the boy left a trail at various places, including in the trail left by the donkeycart. “It seems as if he was trying to find his way back by running in the tracks of the donkeycart,” Iikuyu told New Era. He went on to say that the police have been conducting a search since Saturday. “Up to now, Sunday afternoon we have not yet located the boy and we are so worried about him.
Although we have not stopped the search yet, time is not on our side,” he said. He urged nearby farmers and community members to be on the lookout and assist the family and Nampol in locating the toddler. He says the boy’s mother is currently living in Walvis Bay, while the boy was in the care of his grandparents on the farm.
By Eveline de Klerk