A six-year-old boy from a Peruvian family, who recently relocated to Novate Milanese, Italy, in May, embarked on a solo adventure yesterday after leaving home without telling anyone. The incident concluded with a happy ending after a widespread search.
The boy’s parents raised the alarm yesterday morning upon discovering he was missing from their apartment. The Italian Carabinieri police immediately launched a large-scale search, deploying dog units and a helicopter.
Investigations revealed the child had independently boarded the 89 bus, disembarking at its terminus in Milan’s Affori district, near a train station. Authorities are working to confirm the theory that he then boarded a train, exiting at Cesano Maderno near Monza.
It was there, likely disoriented in an unfamiliar place where the language barrier posed a challenge, that the child was struck by a vehicle. He sustained only minor injuries, and emergency medical services (118) arrived promptly with an ambulance.
The boy was subsequently transported for checks to the emergency room of Desio hospital. It was there that he was reunited with his parents and Carabinieri officers from Novate Milanese, to their understandable relief. The Novate Carabinieri are continuing their investigation to reconstruct the exact sequence of events.
This incident follows a similar alarm in the Milan area last March, when a five-year-old child took the metro to visit an aunt.