Story highlights
Police say the boy was found with his parents in Spain
Parents took Ashya King, 5, from British hospital prematurely, police say
Without further care, boy is at "substantial risk," police say
Interpol issued a international missing-person notice
A 5-year-old boy with a brain tumor who was removed from a British hospital, starting an intense international search, has been found in Spain with his parents, the Hampshire Constabulary posted on its Facebook page late Saturday.
The search for Ashya King, who recently had surgery, began Thursday when his parents, Brett King, 51, and Naghemeh King, 45, took him without authorization from the Southampton hospital, Hampshire police said.
“Ashya has been found,” police said on Facebook. “He is in Spain with his mum and dad. Police are speaking to his mum and dad and we are waiting to hear on Ashya’s condition. This is all we know at this time – but, he has been found. … We will provide further detail just as soon as we can ….”
The boy is not mobile on his own, cannot communicate verbally, and is supposed to be receiving constant medical care because of the surgery and “ongoing medical issues,” Hampshire police Detective Superintendent Dick Pearson said earlier.
“Without this specialist 24-hour care, Ashya is at risk of additional health complications which place him at substantial risk,” Pearson said in a news release Friday.
Police have not said why his parents took Ashya from the hospital.
After Ashya was taken from the hospital Thursday, the family – including Ashya’s six siblings – boarded a ferry in nearby Portsmouth, and disembarked Thursday night in Cherbourg, France, according to Hampshire police.
Interpol issued an international missing person notice, otherwise known as a yellow alert, for the boy. Such notices are distributed to police in Interpol’s 190 member countries to help find missing people, especially children.