AIZAWL, Nov 17 - The two-and-a-half-years-old boy from Vairengte town in north Mizoram, who had been missing since November 11, was found dead today, on the seventh day of a search operation launched by the local community.
A resident of Vairengte, who was among the volunteers who were trying to locate the missing child, found Lalsiamthara�s lifeless body lying face down, from near a small stream around 2.30 pm, about 5 km from where he had gone missing.
Preliminary investigation revealed no injuries on the child�s body that had started to decompose, suggesting that he had died shortly after he went missing.
As per Mizo traditions, today would have been the last day of the community search for the boy.
It may be mentioned here that Lalsiamthara was reported missing at 7 am from the outskirts of Vairengte where his father, C Zothanmawia, an autorickshaw driver, had taken him along with another older boy.
Zothanmawia told the police that he had gone to that remote place with Lalsiamthara and the nine-year-old son of his neighbour on Wednesday morning to buy fuel for his vehicle from a black marketeer at Lailapur. He said that he had left his son and the other boy there and proceeded towards the Assam border to buy five litres of petrol.
On his return, he found his son missing and the older boy was later found in the jungle nearby. The neighbour�s son told Zothanmawia that he had gone to defecate in the bushes and asked the child to remain there. When he returned, he could not find him.
