Another child with autism feared abducted
Family fears missing autistic 3yo boy has been abducted. The distraught uncle of a three-year-old boy missing in the NSW Hunter Valley says his disappearance is "unbelievable" as fears grow that the child may have been abducted.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-05/ ... /100435114
Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak hasn't been seen since Friday afternoon
An extensive land and air search is underway near his home in rural NSW
The family fears he may have been abducted and report seeing a "suspicious" vehicle in the area
Family and emergency crews battled rain and cold temperatures on a second night of searching for Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak last night.
The boy is autistic and non-verbal and hasn't been seen since midday on Friday, sparking a large-scale search of his family's rural 650-acre property off Yengo Drive, near Putty, south of Singleton in New South Wales.
Let's hope they find the little boy.
Last edited by Cornflake on 07 Sep 2021, 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.: Added "feared" to the title to avoid accusations of clickbait
Anthony, or ‘AJ’, who is autistic and non-verbal, had last been seen at about 11.45am on Friday.
A widespread search of the family’s 650-acre property at Putty had lasted for almost 72 hours and included police, emergency services and volunteers when the miraculous discovery was made.
The search also extended into other areas of the Upper Hunter.
“Missing three-year-old boy Anthony ‘AJ’ Elfalak has been located a short time ago. He is yet to be assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics. More info to come,” NSW Police posted to Twitter.
It is understood AJ was found by a rescue helicopter at a creek within the property, several kilometres from the family home.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/cctv-footage-missing-as-search-for-threeyearold-anthony-aj-elfalak-continues/news-story/ffaa8ac5dd3992c503d776c164e3bbed
Great news!
Amazing for a child of only 3yrs of age to survive the cold for 4 days without food and water.
Infact it must be a world first?
Last edited by Cornflake on 07 Sep 2021, 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.: Removed a speculative qualifier to "cold"
AJ disappeared on Friday morning and a frantic search by police, SES, volunteers and family turned up no sign of him for 72 hours.
He was rescued in dramatic fashion about 11.30am on Monday after a police helicopter sighted the boy, who is autistic and non-verbal, drinking water from a creek several hundred metres from his family’s home.
Conspiracy theories circulated on social media that his disappearance was staged, and that a young boy could not survive alone with food or water in such inhospitable terrain – where overnight temperatures were as low as 2C.
However, detectives investigating the circumstances of the toddler’s disappearance – said AJ’s injuries and condition when he was found were all consistent with him being in the bush the entire time.
And, bush survival experts aiding the investigation say his autism may have actually helped him maintain a calm state of mind.
“The reality is he didn’t know he was lost, so he wasn’t scared, he didn’t panic,” an investigator told the Daily Mail Australia.
“If he was tired, he slept … he had access to water, which is a big thing for survival in the bush.”
When AJ was rescued, paramedics said he ravenously ate an entire pizza and guzzled water – which is indicative of someone who hadn’t eaten for days.
“He was starving … it’s all consistent with him being in the bush the entire time,” a paramedic said.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/survival-expert-claims-aj-elfalaks-autism-may-have-kept-him-calm-and-ultimately-alive-in-the-bush/news-story/0bc409f6ee203f1be62a2a0c395c7813
As per the news item posted by Brictoria, there has been a theory that autism actually helps calm children who are lost in bushland.
There are many stories of incredible survival of autistic kids lost in wilderness.
Anthony AJ Elfalak, three, vanished without a trace shortly after 11am last Friday.
Media coverage exploded as a search commenced. Hundreds of people, including police from Polair, the dog squad, divers and the mounted unit, as well as SES, Rural Fire Service and Volunteer Rescue Association personnel scoured bushland to find AJ.
Almost exactly 72 hours later, he was found. But the question remains – what happened in those three days between AJ, who is autistic and non-verbal, disappearing from his family’s home at Putty, NSW and being discovered in a creek in bushland only 200m away?
Many theories were floated at the time, each one more shocking than the last.
Family friends had told national TV networks they feared the worst; AJ had “definitely” been abducted.
A “suspicious” ute was seized by police almost 80km from the Elfalak’s 650-acre Singleton Shire property.
CCTV footage from around the time of AJ’s disappearance had also “disappeared”.
But the professional bush tracker who answered the siren call to join AJ’s search party has another theory: AJ survived those three days in the bush without food, and in freezing cold rain, by hiding in either a wombat hole or a cave close to where emergency services discovered him on Monday – shivering, cold and drinking muddy creek water.
Jake Cassar, a 45-year-old survival expert from the NSW Central Coast who was also part of the 2014 search for missing child William Tyrrell, offers an extraordinary account of the 72 hours it took to track down AJ.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/bush-expert-from-anthony-aj-elfalak-search-party-believes-boy-may-have-hid-in-wombat-hole-or-cave-to-survive/news-story/889f6ff7fd0cde06d5ab4873dca10f14
AJ, who has autism and is non-verbal, was missing in an extremely rugged part of the NSW Hunter Valley before crew on a helicopter spotted him drinking muddy water at a creek on September 6.
His mother Kelly said she firmly believed saints, angels and the Virgin Mary played a role in keeping the boy safe.
“We’re a religious family ... I always say that the Virgin Mary and all the saints and the angels are with my kids every day,” she recently said in a social media video.
“The Virgin Mary is always with us and I knew she was always with AJ.
“If you saw the picture of AJ in the creek, you can actually see the Virgin Mary next to him.”
Source: https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/news/mother-of-rescued-boy-anthony-aj-elfalak-believes-police-video-shows-the-virgin-mary-kept-him-safe/news-story/c6dd7c82d81b3afe22bb4af65ee60c04
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