Missing Toddler Found By Journalist Who Was Sent To Cover Story About Child’s Disappearance

A missing toddler in Italy was found by a journalist who was sent to cover the story about his disappearance.

A 21-month-old boy was reported missing on Monday after he wandered away from his Palazzuolo sul Senio home in the middle of the night. The child’s disappearance gained lots of attention from journalists and media outlets, who quickly traveled to the scene to cover the story. One of those journalists was RAI reporter Giuseppe Di Tommaso.

Di Tommaso was researching the story on Wednesday about two miles from the boy’s home when he heard him crying out, the New York Post reports. “I started to yell, ‘Nicola,’ to understand if it could be the child. I heard ‘Mamma,’” he said.

Di Tommaso ended up seeing the boy at the bottom of the ravine, and that’s when he called over Carabinieri police commander Danilo Ciccarelli, who lowered himself down and retrieved the child. “I heard clearer cries and expected an animal to come out,” Ciccarelli told a news conference. “Instead, Nicola came out with his head in the high grass and said, ‘Mamma.’ It was a beautiful feeling.”

The boy was not severely hurt, but he was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. “It was a tremendous joy to bring him back to his mother’s arms,” Ciccarelli said.