Three missing boys have been located by a Melbourne journalist more than 60 kilometres from their home in Mornington, Victoria.
The brothers, aged nine, 10 and 12 were spotted by Channel Seven News reporter Dean Felton in South Melbourne after going missing on Sunday night.
Mr Felton told 3AW the boys, Jai, Beau, and Chase Masters, seemed nervous and denied who they were at first.
“They hitched a ride to Melbourne with someone they didn’t know, which is a bit of a worry if that’s true,” he told 3AW Mornings.
The journalist said he was driving to work, and having just heard a news report about the missing boys, became suspicious when he spotted three boys standing on a traffic island in South Melbourne.
Mr Felton said he pulled over onto the island and spoke to them and despite them denying they were the missing children, persisted, eventually confirming their identities and contacting police.
He said the kids were acting “cagey” and did not give out many details, but did say they stayed the night at a friend’s house.
The journalist said he lent his phone to the children so they could call their parents, but did not listen to their conversation.
Beau was reportedly “quite upset” as he and his brothers Chase and Jai were picked up police.
“The important thing (is) they’re safe, they’re well, they’re gonna be okay,” Mr Felton said.
Mamamia previously reported that police were appealing for the public’s help to locate three boys from Mornington who went missing last night.
The brothers were last seen in Meridian Way, Mornington about 7.15pm on Sunday.
Police urged anyone who may have seen or heard from the boys to contact them, releasing an image they hope may help in locating the three brothers.
Victoria Police said the boys’ family had concerns for their sons’ welfare due to their age.
Top Comments
There are too many of these stories....kids go missing, police called in to search, only to find the kids have buggered off under their own steam and ingenuity. The parents need to be charged with child endangerment for not knowing where their kids are. I still expect my kids to let me know where they are and they are 21 and 28!!
Glad they've been found. But am I the only one concerned that these boys are being filmed without any parents/adults around? Sticking the microphone in the face of a kid and filming them talking to the police just feels really off to me.
I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, surely that's going against every single ethics rule that exists for journalists?
You should be more concerned about where they spent the night and who drove them!
Well of course I'm concerned about that - I thought that would go without saying (obviously not). But given we have no idea what happened, I don't think it's appropriate for children to be filmed like that.
What ethics rules are you talking about? 😁