Man held after Maelys de Araujo, 9, disappears from wedding in Alps

A man has been arrested in connection with the
disappearance of a French girl from a wedding in the
Alps.
The unnamed man was arrested close to the wedding
venue where the girl was last seen, a source told
AFP.
His account of his whereabouts during the night
contained inconsistencies, the news agency reported.
Nine-year-old Maelys de Araujo was last seen around
3am on Sunday at a wedding party in the village of
Pont-de-Beauvoisin, about 30 miles north of
Grenoble.
Divers have been searching for Maelys in the
nearby Guiers river
Fears that she had been kidnapped emerged when
sniffer dogs lost a scent trail from her cuddly toy in a
car park outside the venue.
Police are concerned she may have been abducted in
a car and scores of search and rescue teams, divers
and cavers are searching the local area in search of
the girl.
Many of the wedding's guests, as well as people
from other events in the area, are being interviewed.
'Very dense' woodland surrounds the area where
Maelys was last seen
The girl's photograph has been widely shared across
France since her disappearance.
Dietlind Baudoin, a local prosecutor, said: "Given the
time that has elapsed since the disappearance of the
young Maelys and given the resources that have been
sadly deployed in vain to find her, the criminal
possibility can no longer be ruled out."

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