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Alex Batty, a 17-year-old British boy missing since 2017, was found on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, in a region of southwest France. Alex a resident of Oldham Britain was 11 years old when disappeared after going on holiday with his mother and grandfather in Spain in 2017, as reported by the Seattle Times.
His mother and grandfather, who do not have Alex's parental guardianship, were last seen at the Port of Malaga on October 8, 2017, the day he was expected to return to the UK to his grandmother who is his legal guardian. Both the mother and grandfather have still not been found.
After six years, Batty was reportedly found by a motorist, Fabien Accidini, who spotted him walking through rain near Toulouse - a city in the south-west of France, as reported by BBC. The motorist delivery driver, saw Alex walking along a road in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the rain Wednesday morning and took him to a police station.
Alex was reportedly living in the remote Pyrenean valleys - a mountain range on the border of France and Spain - for two years after traveling about from place to place in a migrant commune.
Alex Batty contacted his grandmother after he was found
Fabien Accidini told BBC after Alex told him that he’d been wandering for four days, he typed his name on the internet and discovered that he had been missing for years.
Fabien said,
"He explained that he had been walking for four days, that he set off from a place in the mountains, though he didn't say where. I typed his name into the internet and saw that he was being looked for."
Fabien Accidini then took Alex to a police station in Toulouse. Fabien revealed that Alex seemingly escaped from his home Pyrenean valleys and was planning to find a big city with an embassy to find assistance.
Alex is said to have contacted his grandmother Susan Caruana, who is his custodian back in the UK, via Facebook shortly after Fabien learned that he had been missing for years.
He wrote: "Hello Grandma, it's me, Alex. I'm in France Toulouse. I really hope that you receive this message. I love you, I want to come home."
Authorities are still looking for Alex Batty's mother and grandfather
A police source revealed that they are still looking for Alex’s mother and grandfather, who took him without the custodian’s consent. The prosecutor's office told the BBC that Alex was reticent about revealing his mother’s whereabouts.
Alex Batty’s grandmother, Susan Caruana told the BBC in 2018 that she believed her grandson’s mother, Melanie Batty, and his grandfather, David Batty, had taken him to live with a spiritual community in Morocco as they were seeking an alternative lifestyle.
After Alex was found, Caruana told The Sun newspaper she had now been in touch with Alex and was thrilled to have him back home. Meanwhile, the prosecutors' office in the city of Toulouse told BBC that Alex Batty was in the city and could be back with his family in the UK very soon.
