Manama: Police in Qatar were able to locate a three-year-old daughter after a 10-hour search and rescue operation in the desert area in the Shemal district.
The 8pm to 5am experience was singularly harrowing for the Arab expatriate family who had joined other families for an evening outing in the Gashamiya desert area.
According to Qatari media, the child's father had left the family with the other families, ensured all camping arrangements and returned to Doha.
However, when he reached the capital, he was told that his daughter, Lamays, had gone missing. His brother assured him that the police had been informed and search operations had begun.
The Ministry of Interior officials pressed into service 40 search vehicles carrying a range of equipment that included generators and diving gear amid concerns the child may have accidentally slipped into one of the wells in the area.
Several residents in the area also joined the search and rescue operation with their vehicles and even though several rounds of search throughout the night did not yield results, the police and the ministry officials refused to give up hope, Qatari daily Gulf Times reported.
They eventually found the girl in the early hours near a farmhouse close to the Shemal highway, around 2,500 metres from the place where the family had camped.
"God has saved the child," the child's father. "And I am grateful to the authorities for rescuing my daughter."
