SOS Criança Report: 41 Children went missing last year

SOS-Criança has signalled 41 missing children [in Portugal] in 2010. Most of them ran away from home, but there were also parental abductions and flights from institutions. Some went missing for less than two days, others for over a year.

A report from SOS-Criança, an organization that was created in 1989 by the Child Support Institute (Instituto de Apoio à Criança) reveals that most of the children that disappeared last year had run away from home (25), but there were also 10 cases that were parental abductions and another six situations where the children fled from the institutions where they were staying.

Ten children were missing for less than two days and another seven for less than one week. The report further indicates that in five cases, the child managed to remain out of contact for one to two weeks, and three children disappeared for two to three weeks.

Three minors ran away for three to four weeks and another two remained unaccounted for a period over one month. In three cases, the minors disappeared for over half a year, and in four cases, for over nine months. The report further indicates that three minors remained missing for over one year.

Most of these children had someone “waiting for them”: 12 were with a parent, 16 with companions or friends and five with their siblings. Fifteen minors ended up returning “home” on their own, while in six situations it was the family or police (six times) that cleared the case. “Two children did not want to return home/to the institution, and nine have an open process”, the report mentions, indicating that 12 of the “missing” were repeat situations.

Concerning parental abductions, in 13 cases the parents were still married, eight were divorced, six were separated, and there were also two cases of people living together or single. The civil situation of the parents of nine missing children remains unknown until now.

Family conflicts are the most common motive for runaways

Family conflicts were the main motive for running away, followed by the internet and the influence of friends. "Domestic violence was responsible for four disappearances and abuse was responsible in three cases". The report further points out cases of psychiatric illness, neglect, behavioural problems, dating and even the story of a minor who ran away to attend a concert.

Last year, 31 girls and 10 boys disappeared, and most of the cases take place near the weekend: 11 on a Friday, seven on a Thursday and another five cases on a Monday.

As far as ages are concerned, there is no pattern: last year, two children aged two and six children aged three, five, six, seven, ten and eleven, but also five 16-year-olds and four 17-year-olds.

Most of them lived in Lisbon (11). In Évora and Bragança, four minor went missing in each of the regions. Setúbal, Braga, Coimbra, Faro, Leiria, Viseu, Santarém and Aveiro also registered cases.

In most of the situations, the alert was given by the family, but there were also eleven flights that were denounced by the community, and seven by professionals from institutions that are related to children. In two cases, the "fugitives" themselves contacted the SOS-Missing Child services.

Eight denunciations arrived at the SOS services by e-mail, while the other 33 arrived by phone, the report reveals, further indicating that the Missing Children Service has already signalled 318 cases over the years. Last year, there were 41 cases, half of what was registered in 2009, when the services signalled 88 missing children.

in: Público, 10.08.2011

Human Bones found in Algarve - another update

Some people on twitter and on facebook have been speculating if the human bones found by a fishing boat in Algarve could belong to Madeleine McCann, according to a follow-up article published today in Diário de Noticías (paper edition), the bones belong to an adult.

Human bones picked up by trawler nets
by José Manuel Oliveira

According to authorities, human bones, belonging possibly to a "young adult or adult" were found yesterday, along with shellfish and monkfish in the nets of a fishing vessel during a routine inspection made by the Navy. The inspection was done between 6:00 and 6:30, when the fishing vessel was at work between the areas of Fuzeta and Tavira Island, six miles from the coast, the equivalent of ten kilometers.

As stated by the commander of Olhão's Port Authority, Ricardo Arrabaça, there are some "long bones of an incomplete arm, besides a pelvis bone and a leg bone, both equally incomplete", adding that "they might belong to an individual, adult who has been in the sea for a long time". In that way, it was excluded the idea that rouse immediately when thinking about the eventuality of the bones belonging to Madeleine McCann, the English child who disappeared on the evening of May 3, 2007, from Praia da Luz, Lagos. On the other hand, there is no record of disappearances at sea in that area.

The fishing boat, a trawler of Vila Real de Santo António, where no infraction was detected, had to be accompanied by the Portuguese ship Eagle to the port of Olhão for the bones to be collected. The human bones followed up from there to the National Institute of Legal Medicine in Lisbon. The case was referred to the Public Ministry.

in Diário de Notícias (paper edition), August 4, 2011

Human Bone found in trawler net

A human bone was found today in a trawler net during an inspection conducted by the navy off the coast of the Algarve, in Tavira, said to Lusa (news agency) the commander of the Port authority of Olhão.

"It was a trawler vessel, six miles away from the coast, off the island of Tavira, in the area of fish trawling, that was subject to an inspection made by a navy motorboat. When the net was raised, in order to inspect the fishing mesh, a human bone was found", explained the commander Ricardo Arrabaça.

The same source stated that the inspection was made between 06:00 and 06:30 and, when the human remains were detected, "the fish were thrown away and the vessel was accompanied by the ship of the Portuguese Republic, Eagle, to the port of Olhão so the bone could be collected".

"We contacted the Public Ministry, who has sent the bone to the National Institute of Legal Medicine so they can try identify to whom it belonged or to gather evidence that might help that task", added the commander of the Olhão's port authority. No infraction was found in the trawler, still according to the same source.

in Diário de Notícias, August 3, 2011

Update August 14, 2011 

Grisly find is not little Madeleine

THERE was new hope in the search for Madeleine McCann last night [the news was first published 11 days ago as seen above] after it emerged human remains found near where she vanished are not hers. Arm, leg and pelvis bones were discovered in a fishing boat’s net off the coast of Tavira – 60 miles from the resort where Maddie disappeared four years ago.

They sparked speculation about whether they were linked to Maddie. But authorities now believe the bones belong to a “young adult or adult”. The news will be a huge boost to Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry, 43, from Rothley, Leics, who are convinced she is still alive. Their hopes have been raised and dashed numerous times since Maddie vanished, aged three, from Praia da Luz.

Less than a year after her disappearance links were made between Maddie and bones found in a nearby reservoir. But they belonged to animals.

Meanwhile, thousands of “sightings”, including one last month in Leh, India, have proved fruitless. A spokesman for the McCanns said: “The search for Madeleine is very much continuing.”

Daily Star (paper version), page 9