Hopes of finding little William Tyrell alive are fading, as the search for the three-year-old heads into a fifth day.
He was last seen playing at his grandmother’s home at Kendall, south west of Port Macquarie on Friday morning.
“Those chances of survival diminish rapidly and of course we are very concerned for young William’s welfare,” Superintendent Paul
Fehon told the media this morning.
“We do have grave concerns.
“To disappear that quickly absolutely bewilders us.”
Searchers combed bushland again throughout last night in a 1.5 kilometre radius from the home. They’ll expand the search out to three kilometres today.
“The whole operation has covered in excess of 10 square
kilometres,” Supt Fehon said.
“Our investigative efforts, we are bolstering them to ensure if anything has happened to William apart from him running and disappearing of his own means that we come up with the right result,” Supt Fehon said.
“We would have hoped to have found something by now.”
More people will join the search from Newcastle and Sydney today.
Police say they are keeping an open mind as to whether William has been abducted.
