A five-year-old girl missing from the Gold Coast suburb of Nerang since yesterday has been found safe and well.
Police confirmed via Twitter that Jocelyn Lewis had been found just before 3.10pm, and cancelled their amber alert.
Footage from the 9NEWS helicopter showed a blonde child sitting in a police car about 3.10pm, surrounded by police and other people.
Police said they will provide a briefing on the incident at their Forward Command Post at the 7-Eleven service station in Nerang shortly.
Jocelyn was reported missing after running away from Nielsens Road at Nerang about 4.30pm yesterday, sparking a massive search effort.
Earlier this afternoon, her aunt Jenny appealed for public help to find her niece, who she believed may have been hiding.
Jenny said her niece loved playing hide and seek, animals and climbing trees, and may continue to run away if approached.
“Jocelyn is a beautiful well-natured girl, she’s very active, but Jocelyn’s favourite game is hide and seek and we are very, very concerned that she’s out there hiding at the moment,” Jenny said.
“Jocelyn can be in one of two moods, sometimes Jocelyn can be the most happy, bubbly little girl and she will come to you and be beautiful, other times she can be very scared and if she’s scared she may run.”
Jenny said Jocelyn’s parents were “very stressed”, but were thankful to the many people who were searching for their daughter.
Players from the local Gold Coast Suns AFL club were among the civilians who joined the search.
“It’s pretty close to home, so it’s pretty scary and you never want these type of things to happen, so a few of the guys are just getting out and doing whatever we can,” player Jaeger O’Meara said.
Earlier today, Queensland Police Service Inspector Scott MacQueen said the initial search area had been expanded and the mounted unit, dive squad and other specialists had been called in.
He also thanked members of the public for their “enormous support”, which had allowed for a coordinated search effort involving volunteers.
Last night, police expanded their search to cover an area west of the M1 and closer to Carrara.
