Amber Alert: Siblings still missing after massive search in Finsterwolde
The police did not find the missing siblings, Jeffrey (10) and Emma (8), during a massive search in the Groningen town of Finsterwolde, near their hometown of Beerta, on Sunday evening. Investigators believe the kids’ father, Klaas Bijl, abducted them on Saturday and issued an Amber Alert for them.
The police were searching in the Carel Coenraadpolder on Sunday evening “following tips that emerged from the investigation,” the police said, not providing further information. A spokesperson would only tell NOS that finding the children is their top priority.
The two children went missing at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The police issued an Amber Alert for them on Sunday morning and released photos of their father later in the evening. They believe he abducted them in a grey Toyota Avensis with the license plate 77-NLV-4.
According to the newspaper AD, a sibling of Jeffrey and Emma reported on social media that Bijl took the children from an arcade in Weener, Germany, on Saturday. “In a drunken state and threatening to harm himself and the children,” brother Rubertus wrote on social media to his friends. His parents have been separated for some time, according to the newspaper.
The police did say they were also searching and Germany, “since Beerta is in the border region of the Netherlands and Germany.” The police did not confirm the report by the brother.
An Amber Alert is the police’s most serious measure for missing children, used only when the police fear that their lives are in immediate danger. Photos of the children are spread far and wide, on screens at train stations and gas stations, and during commercial breaks.
