“In the car mirror I saw that they were coming towards me screaming and crying.” This is how Alexandre Quintas described, in statements to SIC, the moment he found two abandoned children near Monte Novo do Sul, near Alcácer do Sal.
The minors, two French brothers aged three and five, were alone along National Road 253, which connects Comporta to Alcácer do Sal, at around 7pm. According to the report, the children were crying and asking for help.
Alexandre Quintas said he decided to reverse gear when he realized the situation. “The oldest told me that he and his sister had gotten lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them,” he revealed.
The witness immediately suspected abandonment when he observed the objects the children were carrying. “I immediately realized that they had been abandoned by their backpacks,” he said. As he explained, the bags contained “a change of clothes, a packet of biscuits, two pieces of fruit and a bottle of water”.
According to the man, the children themselves reported how everything happened. “To deceive the children, the parents blindfolded them and put them in the forest to play a game. They told the children to go look for a toy,” he told SIC.
After the alert, the minors were taken to a GNR post. Despite not having documents with them, the parents have already been identified by the authorities.
The case was reported to the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People (CPCJ), which is now monitoring the situation.
