Police search for missing autistic boy, 6
A six-year-old East London autistic boy has gone missing in Ntabankulu in the Transkei.
Khanide Nyikinya disappeared from his grandmother’s Bhakubha location home at about 5pm on Monday evening. Police have launched a massive search involving K9 units, mounted divisions and visible policing to trace the child, who does not speak.
The news has left the boy’s family and teachers at his special needs school, Ikamva Support Centre, devastated.
Teacher Luzanne Fouche said on Tuesday: “He is non-verbal so he can’t tell anyone if he is hungry or wants to go home. My heart is sore. I love that boy like he is mine. I am having sleepless nights.”
Khanide’s mother Qhawekazi, 22, said a search party of 100 community members, police K9 and mounted units, had resumed their search of maize fields, dams, rivers and homes. Speaking at the scene yesterday, she said: “We have split into 10 groups. We are optimistic that we will find my boy.”
Nyikinya said the boy was last seen by an elderly woman in the village on Monday evening. “When she asked him who he was and where was he going, Khanide ran away. Most people do not know him because he is based in East London.”
He was wearing blue shorts and a grey vest when he disappeared at about 5pm. Anyone who has seen him is urged to call Khanide’s aunt Nandipha Nyikinya on 083-3158784 or 083-783-2680.
Eastern Cape provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said the search was called off at midnight on Tuesday and resumed yesterday morning.