A nine-year-old boy has been rescued after allegedly being kept locked inside his father’s utility van in eastern France since 2024 – a case that has stunned the quiet village where it unfolded.
The child was reportedly discovered on Monday in Hagenbach, near the borders with Switzerland and Germany, after a neighbour alerted police to the “sounds of a child” coming from a parked vehicle. According to local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz, officers forced the van open and found the boy in a dire condition.
