Tragic update in hunt for missing little boy Gus, 4, who vanished in Australian outback leaving behind single footprint

Gus vanished last Saturday evening from his grandparents’ remote homestead

POLICE have made the heartbreaking decision to scale back the massive search for missing four-year-old August “Gus” Lamont.

Officers spent a week scouring the South Australian outback but failed to find any trace of him.

POLICE have made the heartbreaking decision to scale back the massive search for missing four-year-old August “Gus” Lamont.

Officers spent a week scouring the South Australian outback but failed to find any trace of him.

Gus vanished last Saturday evening while playing outside his grandparents’ remote homestead about 24 miles south of Yunta, north-east of Adelaide.

His grandmother last saw him at 5pm on a dirt mound, but by 5.30pm he was gone.

The only clue searchers uncovered was a single child-sized footprint about 500 metres from the homestead.

No clothing, hat, or any other sign of the boy has been found.
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At its peak, more than 100 people were on the ground each day.

But professional survival experts warned that a four-year-old in Gus’s thin clothing faced almost impossible odds after so many nights in near-freezing temperatures.

He was wearing a grey broad-brimmed hat, a blue Minions shirt, light grey pants and boots.

Commissioner Parrott said: “In the last 48 hours, despite the professional advice it being unlikely that Gus would have survived, we have maintained and in fact increased the effort to try and locate him and bring him back to his family.

“In the last 48 hours, despite the professional advice it being unlikely that Gus would have survived, we have maintained and in fact increased the effort to try and locate him and bring him back to his family,”

ADF crews were stood down on Friday afternoon as police vehicles began to pull back from the isolated property.

Gus vanished last Saturday evening from his grandparents’ remote homestead

Police scoured thousands of miles in the Australian outback with no luck

Cops have now scaled back the search for Gus Lamont after a weekCredit: SA Police

Family clinging to hope

Earlier this week, family friend Bill Harbison released a statement on behalf of Gus’s devastated relatives.

“This has come as a shock to our family and friends, and we are struggling to comprehend what has happened,” he said.

“Gus’s absence is felt in all of us and we miss him more than words can express.

“Our hearts are aching, and we are holding onto hope that he will be found and returned to us safely.”

Locals have voiced fears the little boy could have stumbled into one of the region’s many unmarked mine shafts or wells.

Some of these century-old relics from gold and livestock days are almost invisible in the rugged country.

Police stressed they believe Gus simply wandered off and was not taken, describing the case as “very tragic” but with no evidence of foul play.

Yorke Mid North Superintendent Mark Syrus said it was “unusual” for Gus to roam so far but “who knows what goes through a four-year-old’s mind?”

The case is now officially a missing persons investigation — but police vowed not to stop searching for answers.

“We will continue to pursue ongoing lines of inquiry, and we will not rest until we can try and find the answer to why Gus has gone missing, and hopefully, for the family, return him to them,” Commissioner Parrott said.

The operation has shifted from a rescue mission to a missing persons investigationCredit: SA Police

He was last seen wearing a blue shirt with a Minion from the Despicable Me film on