Shock for the parents

Children (5) missing because they were visiting a friend

A helicopter (symbolic image) searched for the missing children.

(Bild: P. Huber)

Shock for the parents in Grieskirchen (Upper Austria): Two kindergarten friends (both 5) were playing together in the playground of a block of flats on Sunday when they suddenly disappeared. Around an hour and a half later, the five-year-olds reappeared 1.5 kilometers away.

Those must have been anxious moments for the parents of two five-year-old children - a boy and a girl. The two know each other from kindergarten, are good friends and live quite close to each other in a housing estate in Grieskirchen.

It is likely that the two of them are often out and about together in the playground. On Sunday, however, the visit to the playground ended with a nasty surprise for the parents: at around 2.15 p.m., the two five-year-olds were reported missing, having suddenly disappeared.

Police helicopter searched for children
The worried parents called the police, who sent up a search helicopter. The relieving news came at around 3.45 p.m.: the children had reappeared.

They were at the home of another kindergarten friend who lives one and a half kilometers away. The five-year-olds, who had been missing for a short time, had probably decided without further ado to visit the girl and had set off ...