The case, first reported by the newspaper Correio da Manhã, is shocking the country, even though very little is yet known.
Late on Tuesday, 19 May, two children were found by a couple driving past, wandering around in a panic, in the rural area of Monte Novo do Sul, on National Road 253, in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal.
Artur Quintas, the local man who found them, told SIC Notícias in an interview that the children were crying and that the older brother said they had been taken to the forest, supposedly to play. “To trick the children, their parents blindfolded them and left them in the forest to play a game. They told them to go and look for a toy,” he said.
The children were carrying backpacks containing a bottle of water, a piece of fruit, a packet of biscuits and a change of clothes, which led the man to suspect they might have been abandoned.
Artur Quintas took the children back to his family, where they stayed until the National Republican Guard (GNR) arrived. At around 23:00, they were taken to Setúbal Hospital to be examined. They are now in the care of the French Embassy, in coordination with the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Young People (CPCJ).
