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Swiss twins last seen on ferry, official says

By the CNN Wire Staff
Alessia, left, and Livia Schepp were abducted by their father a week ago.
Alessia, left, and Livia Schepp were abducted by their father a week ago.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Their mother calls the sighting "encouraging"
  • Alessia and Livia Schepp have not been seen in 11 days
  • They were abducted by their father, who later killed himself, police said
  • Police are searching for them in three countries
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Paris (CNN) -- Missing Swiss twin girls were last seen alive on a ferry to the island of Corsica, a French official said Wednesday.

A woman heard them crying in the next cabin and then saw them and could identify one of them, the official said.

Six-year-old Alessia and Livia Schepp were abducted by their father on January 30, Swiss police said. They were spotted on the boat the following day, French prosecutor Jacques Dallest said.

The father, Matthias Schepp, 43, committed suicide February 3 on a railway in Cerignola, Italy, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Bari, a spokesman for the Swiss police said this week.

When police found the body, there was no sign of the girls.

Dallest, a prosecutor in Marseille, France, said it is possible that the girls' father killed them on the boat and threw their bodies overboard.

"Another hypothesis is that he put them into the care of someone else. But after 11 days this seems unlikely," Dallest said.

Their mother, Irina Lucidi, said Wednesday that it was "encouraging" to know the girls had been seen on the ferry.

"I would like to urge all witnesses who saw my daughters to step forward. We know they were last seen on a ferry to Corsica so to all those people who might have seen them, even if you think the information is trivial, please contact the police so we can find them alive," she on CNN affiliate BFM TV in France.

The search for Alessia and Livia Schepp has stretched to three countries -- Switzerland, France, and Italy, police said.

Police had discovered earlier that Schepp had bought ferry tickets for himself and his two daughters and validated them at the French port of Marseille, intending to go to the Corsican port of Propriano.

Authorities have dubbed their search Operation Gemelle, which means "twins" in Italian.

Interpol issued an international Yellow Notice missing persons alert for the girls Saturday. Such notices are distributed to police in Interpol's 188 member countries to help find missing people, especially children.

Police said the girls' father abducted them from their home in St. Sulpice, near Lausanne in western Switzerland, on January 30.

He took the girls following personal problems at home, according to the state police in Vaud, which covers the area of St. Sulpice.

Swiss police have since carried out three searches at the St. Sulpice home and investigated 60 other homes in the neighborhood, Vaud police said.

They have also searched the father's four boats at the ports of Morges and Vidy as well as other ports in the region. Police have contacted all service stations between St. Sulpice and the Swiss city of Geneva, monitored all customs posts in the Geneva region, and hired a helicopter to search the lake near St. Sulpice.

Both girls are about 3 feet, 9 inches tall and have blond hair, Interpol said. When they were taken, Livia was wearing a green T-shirt, jeans, a violet ski jacket and Adidas sneakers. Alessia was wearing a T-shirt with red and white stripes, jeans, a brown jacket and black shoes.

The headmaster of the girls' school in St. Sulpice visited each class on Monday to inform the students and teachers of the situation, the Vaud police said. Psychological support is being offered at the school.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne in Paris contributed to this report.