The body of one of two missing boys in Vitebsk has been found in the Western Dvina River

July 15, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. The body of a boy, one of the two missing since late March in Vitebsk, was found today in the Western Dvina River, Alexander Chernyavsky, head of the Zheleznodorozhny District Department of Internal Affairs of Vitebsk, told a BELTA correspondent.

"During scheduled search operations, police officers, together with OSVOD divers, discovered the child's body in the Western Dvina River, several kilometers downstream from the presumed place of disappearance. The body had features matching those of one of the two boys reported missing on March 24 of this year," Alexander Chernyavsky said.

There are no signs of violent death on the child's body. Identification of the body is currently underway.

As the head of the District Department of Internal Affairs noted, the search for the children has not stopped since the parents reported them missing on the evening of March 24. Several versions of their disappearance were considered, one of which suggested that the boys had drowned in the river. Information about the children was distributed to all District Departments of Internal Affairs, as well as to drivers of suburban buses.

A helicopter was deployed more than 10 times to survey the area. Scheduled searches were conducted in the neighborhood where the boys lived, in villages adjacent to the city, in dacha settlements, in forest areas, and in the Western Dvina River. Police officers interviewed potential witnesses. Volunteers joined the search for the children at the initial stage, posting flyers around the city and participating in area sweeps to the best of their ability.

As previously reported, the alert about the disappearance of two schoolchildren born in 2002 and 2003 was received by the Zheleznodorozhny District Department of Internal Affairs of Vitebsk around 8 p.m. on March 24. According to their parents, the children returned from gymnasium around 3 p.m., went for a walk, and did not return.

The search for the second child is ongoing. -0-