Sky Metalwala, a two-year-old toddler went missing while his mother went looking for gas in Bellevue, Washington.
Police and search dogs were scanning yesterday a wooded area in Bellevue, searching for the toddler .
The mother took her other child, four, with her to walk a mile to the nearest petrol station after their car came to a halt, but left the two-year-old Sky Metalwala buckled into his car seat in the unlocked vehicle.
When the mother, who has not been identified but is from Redmond, returned around an hour later to the parked car at 9:50 a.m., the toddler was gone.
Police responded to the mother call and started the search but said they did not find a gas can at the car when they arrived.
Officers attempted an all-day search for Sky Metalwala in the northwestern area of the city, but suspended their efforts at 6:00 p.m. local time.
Around 50 people and King County Search and Rescue teams were looking for Sky Metalwala before it became too dark to continue.
Spokesperson for the Bellevue Police Department, Officer Carla Lafrate, told The Seattle Times: “King County felt like they had done a very thorough search of a pretty wide area for the boy and were confident that he wasn’t there.”
Sky Metalwala’s mother told police that as she was walking back to her silver Acura from Chevron gas station a friend picked her up and drove them back to the car.
But when they returned, Sky Metalwala was missing. The door had been left unlocked and there was no sign of forced entry, police said.
Officer Carla Lafrate added: “We don’t know much, other than the child is still missing. I don’t know if the child got out on his own.”
Sky Metalwala has been described as having brown eyes and dark buzz-cut hair.
The boy was dressed in a dark-green hooded sweatshirt and blue and grey striped trousers.
The case is being treated as a missing child, as they do not know if he was taken or left on his own accord.
Detectives are working with the mother and the Sky Metalwala’s father, who lives in Kirkland, has also been contacted.
