Child with autism found safe and well after bar staff discover him on Costa del Sol beach

Staff working at the Pepe Oro beach bar in Torrox Costa on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol called the emergency services after finding an eight-year-old boy with signs of autism spectrum disorder alone on the beach on Wednesday 31 July. Sources at the time said that the child was not Spanish but did not confirm his nationality.

The Local Police in Torrox and Nerja were alerted and after making numerous enquiries in both towns it was the Torrox officers who found his parents around 50 minutes after the alarm was raised.

Lifeguards and Civil Protection volunteers were also involved in the search. The child’s parents were in the José Jiménez chiringuito which isn’t far from the Pepe Oro bar.

When the parents identified them, they explained to the officers that they thought the boy was with his 13-year-old sister. However, the child, who is nonverbal, was alone on the sand having apparently left the motorhome in which the family is staying and had gone back to the beach, alone, to play.