The Netherlands is in shock after a desperate three-day search for two missing children ended when their bodies, along with that of their father, were recovered from a car submerged in a remote canal.
The children, a brother and sister named by police as Jeffrey (10) and Emma (8), had been missing from their home near the rural village of Beerta, in the northeast of the country, not far from the German border.
Police issued an amber alert – a message requesting public assistance in finding a missing child – on Sunday, warning that the children appeared to have been driven away by their father the previous day and could be in imminent danger.
“We have serious concerns for the safety of the children and finding them is now our highest priority”, Tessel Horsman, a police spokesperson, said at the time.
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Details of the grey Toyota belonging to the children’s father, Klaas Bijl (67), had also been circulated to German police, she said, because he was known to have visited a gambling hall just across the border in Bunde on Saturday.
Ms Horsman said Jeffrey, who was 1.5 metres tall, was wearing a yellow T-shirt when last seen, while Emma was wearing pink trainers.
Fears for the children escalated on Sunday evening when a close family member appealed for help, revealing on local television that the end of Mr Bijl’s marriage appeared to have sparked the crisis.
He added: “Please keep searching – don’t give up.”
In response to the programme, more than 100 volunteers turned out in the quiet community and began a detailed search of land.
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A friend of Mr Bijl’s reported to police that the children’s father had told him on Saturday that he planned to “take himself and the children to paradise”.
Hope began to fade after the weekend and police discovered Mr Bijl’s car and all three bodies in the Rensel canal late on Tuesday – just a few kilometres from Beerta where the children disappeared from and in the area where the search had been concentrated.
By Wednesday afternoon, they had confirmed the identities were, in fact, the missing family. The car has been removed for forensic investigation.
In a brief message on social media, the children’s half-brother, Rubertus Hake, thanked police and locals for their support – and appealed for privacy for the family.
Flowers were being laid on Wednesday at the spot where the car was lifted by crane from the water.
“This is deeply felt in the village”, said local mayor, Cora-Yfke Sikkema. “It touches us all.”
