France: 9-year-old boy rescued after year-long confinement in father's van

A nine-year-old boy has been rescued after living locked in his father’s utility van in eastern France for almost 18 months, according to the local prosecutor.The child has been hospitalised, and his father detained.

Police were alerted by a neighbour to the “sounds of a child'' coming from a van earlier this week on Monday in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders with Switzerland and Germany, according to a statement on Saturday from prosecutor Nicolas Heitz, News.Az reports, citing Independent.

After forcing the van open, officers found the child “lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement”, Heitz said. According to the statement, the boy was clearly malnourished and could no longer walk after being in a seated position for so long.

News.Az 

By Leyla Şirinova