Authorities have appealed for information on a 10-year-old boy who has been missing for three days after allegedly running away from a children’s home on Lantau Island.
The child, surnamed Ho, has been living at the Hong Kong Student Aid Society’s Island Hostel in Shek Pik for six months. HK01 reports that Ho, who has dyslexia, recently went back to his family home for the Easter holidays, but became homesick after returning to Shek Pik on Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon, Ho reportedly distracted staff at the Island Hostel by asking for food, and left the home alone. After he failed to return, staff at the hostel called the police, who searched the nearby area to no avail.
Ho’s mother and police searched places the boy would be familiar with, such as Langham Place shopping centre in Mong Kok, Olympian City mall in Tai Kok Tsui, Kwai Fong, Sheung Shui, and Tin Shui Wai, but could not locate him.
According to his friends, Ho had been talking about going home before he disappeared. “He said ‘I want to go home, I miss my mum'”, Apple Daily reports the children as saying.
Ho was last seen wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and blue trainers. Anyone who has seen Ho or has information relevant to the case should call investigating police officers at 3661 2790.
HKSAS opened the Island Hostel in 1965 as a place for boys with emotional and behavioural issues. Currently, 63 children between the ages of seven and 14 live there.
