The following statement can be attributed to Assistant Commissioner, Ian Parrott.
Four-year-old Gus Lamont wandered off from the Oak Park Station homestead, approximately 43 kms south of the Yunta township on Saturday, 27 September.
Gus was seen outside at 5pm on Saturday playing on a mound of dirt by his grandmother. At 5.30pm she has gone outside to call him in, only to find him missing.
According to a family member, he is a shy but adventurous child. While a good walker, he has never left the family property previously.
Considerable police resources were committed to the initial search for Gus once we were alerted on Saturday evening. This included a Polair helicopter using infrared technology and initial ground searches around the homestead.
From early Sunday morning resources were increased considerably as the search intensified. This commitment has steadily increased since Sunday.
The search for Gus has been one of the largest, most intensive and most protracted searches ever undertaken by SAPOL.
The determination of every individual involved to find Gus has never wavered.
Like every member of the community who has been following this sad event, they too have been very much affected by what has happened.
They are all mothers, fathers or have young siblings and share the anguish and despair that Gus' family have been going through since last Saturday night.
On Tuesday night senior police spoke to Gus' family and prepared them for the fact that Gus may not have survived due to the passage of time, his age and the nature of the terrain he is missing in.
This assessment was based on medical evidence from a doctor who is recognised by the Australian rescue authorities as an expert opinion on time frame for survival.
While those involved in the search have been hoping for a miracle, over the past 48 hours the search has shifted to a recovery operation.
At this point, no trace of Gus has been located. No tangible pieces of evidence, such as footprints, a hat or clothing, have been located to identify any direction of travel to assist searchers.
We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area.
Despite our very best efforts to find Gus we have determined that the search will be scaled back from this afternoon.
The investigation will now be managed by the Missing Persons Investigation Section. This is where all longt erm cases such as this are managed and investigated and is standard practice.
In addition to the search activity there have been concurrent inquiries undertaken as a matter of course when a 4-year-old child goes missing. These inquiries are continuing.
We are investigating and looking to rule out every option at this stage.
SAPOL would like to thank everyone involved in the search for Gus.
The SES volunteers – an average of 30 per day - worked tirelessly and thought nothing of volunteering their time. Likewise, the ADF did not hesitate to provide 50 personnel for two days to assist.
