481 people missing in Belgium this year

26 July 2007

BRUSSELS – Between January 1 and July 20 this year, 481 persons older than 18 were reported missing. In 2006 790 people disappeared.

Should this trend continue, the number of missing persons in 2007 will increase by a record 10.5 percent compared to 2006. The figures appear in today’s La Dernière Heure.

283 of the 481 ‘cases of disappearances of adults that cause concern’ registered in the course of the first 7 months of this year were men. 198 of them were women, it emerges from figures issued by the federal police. Of those already reported missing since 1st January , 422 were found, 50 of whom were dead.

In 2006, police opened 1,172 of the most urgent dossiers on missing persons. 790 of these were adults. 117 of these were found dead.

Federal police Spokeswoman Els Cleemput states that the number of elderly people who go missing shows a worrying increase. “These are mainly elderly people suffering from illnesses such as Alzheimer, who get lost when they go for a walk.”

Subject: Belgian news