Rescue teams call off search for missing Glendale child as cops widen net
In most cases, missing children are usually found within 500 metres from their home, and the fear is that Ibongwe may have been kidnapped.
Sorrow was written on the faces of residents of Hillbrow Farm compound in Glendale on Tuesday as they watched rescue teams continue searching for missing two-year-old boy Ibongwe Ntanga.
Ibongwe has been missing since Monday morning after he was last seen by neighbour Vuyiseka Mgctyelwa at around 7am.
The boy was usually left in Mgctyelwa’s care every morning when his parents, Sbonelo Thuba and Yoliswa Ntanga, went to work.
Photos: Wayne Johnstone
“He was playing outside with two other older kids. I had just finished breakfast and washing the dishes and went outside to check on them, but to my surprise the children were not there,” said the 26-year-old.
She looked for the kids and found them, but Ibongwe was no longer with them. They said they had left him behind.
Mgctyelwa informed the parents who work on the farm, and other residents joined the search for the child.
At around 1pm, they realised their search was fruitless and called the police.
Ibongwe was last seen wearing a black and white shirt, green long pants and crocs.
One resident later said he saw the boy crying next to the road when was on his way to take a taxi to Shakaskraal.
He told police he took the child back to his home and left him under a mango tree behind the house.
Rescue teams, including a helicopter, have been trying to find Ibongwe, but there has been no sign of him,
In most cases, missing children are usually found within 500 meters from their home, and the fear is that Ibongwe may have been kidnapped.
The rescue teams suspended their search on Tuesday afternoon.
The heartbroken parents said they just wanted to know whether their boy was still alive.
“Right now we do not know what we are looking for, whether we are looking for a body or perhaps he is just lost somewhere in the bush,” said his father.
Police spokesperson constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said police would continue the search and asked anyone with information of his whereabouts to contact Glendale police on 032 947 9001 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
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