PHUKET, Jan 5: A 12-year-old Swedish boy is still missing in Thailand after the deadly tsunami but there is no evidence he has been kidnapped, police and the boy's grandfather said on Wednesday.
The case of Kristian Walker has attracted huge media attention after the boy's father, American Daniel Walker, was quoted overseas as saying he feared the child had been seized from hospital by a paedophile.
"There is still no evidence that Kristian Walker has been kidnapped but we are still looking for him," said Lieutenant Tuaytep David Wibonsin of the Thai tourist police.
"A rather serious misunderstanding has come up and that is your fault," said the grandfather, also named Daniel Walker, addressing the media at a press conference. Kristian was on holiday at Khao Lak in south west Thailand with his mother Madeleine Walker, 45, his 14-year-old brother and seven-year-old sister when the waves struck on December 26.
With Madeleine Walker missing and feared dead, father Daniel dashed to Thailand from Stockholm and found the elder brother and sister in a hospital. The Times newspaper in Britain reported that two hospital doctors and a nurse, on seeing Kristian's photo, said they had seen him the day after the disaster, accompanied by a middle-aged European man with dark hair and a moustache.
"It is a terrible situation... I believe Kristian is in the hands of traffickers and I do not think he is in the country any more," it quoted the father as saying. -AFP
