Amber Alerts issued for 74 Dutch kids last year

Amber Alert messages were issued in 74 missing children cases in the Netherlands last year. Almost all, 97 percent, of these kids were found within a month. 81 percent were found within a week of going missing, according to annual figures from Amber Alert Nederland, the Volkskrant reports. Amber Alert is the Netherlands' nationwide alert system used in the case of abductions or when a child is missing and there is reason to believe he is in a life-threatening situation, immediate danger or at a high degree of risk. When an Amber Alert is issued, messages appear on highway signs, advertising displays, smartphone applications and text messages. These messages are either spread locally or nationally, depending on the situation. Last year the system was used in dozens of missing children cases. 72 of the 74 missing kids were back home within a month of their disappearance. The average age of the children was 13 years and 68 percent were girls. A national alert was issued in two cases, for a 9-year-old boy from Utrecht and a 12-year-old boy from Vleuten. Both these boys were found within 24 hours. In 2015 the Amber Alert reached 11.8 million people over the age of 18. Since 2011 the system was used in 959 missing children cases.