12 Year Old American Boy from Indiana Missing in in the Bernese highlands, Switzerland (Truemmelbach waterfalls near Lauterbrunnen) (Update: Noah Kriese Named)
A 12 year old American boy is missing in Switzerland. The American boy went missing near the Truemmelbach waterfall, which drains glacier waters from the country’s famous Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau mountains. The boy disappeared late Friday during a hike with his family at the waterfall near Lauterbrunnen.
Bernese cantonal (state) police spokeswoman Ursula Stauffer said the boy disappeared late Friday during a hike with his family at the waterfall near Lauterbrunnen, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Bern.
Police posted photos of the boy on a missing persons Web site — http://bit.ly/uTCDG — but declined to identify him by name because of Swiss privacy rules.
Police and rescuers were searching the gorge, which has a number of waterfalls.
She said police and rescuers were searching the gorge, which has a number of waterfalls, but had not been able to enter the water because of strong currents caused by glacial meltwater. Police said other hikers claimed to have seen a person in the rapids around the time of the boy’s disappearance.
The Truemmelbach Falls are part of the UNESCO world heritage site for the massive Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn glaciers. The falls are extremely narrow and dark, flowing inside the rock, and are reached by an elevator inside the mountain.
UPDATE I: According to a police statement other hikers claimed to have seen a person in the rapids around the time of his disappearance
UPDATE II: Greenwood, Ind., family confirms boy missing
The family of a Greenwood boy is confirming he’s missing at a waterfall in Switzerland.
The family of Noah Kriese has released a statement saying the 12-year-old disappeared Friday while on a hike at Truemmelbach Falls, about 30 miles southeast of the Swiss capital, Bern.
UPDATE III: Swiss end search for US boy; shoe found
Swiss police said Monday they had broken off the search for a 12-year-old American boy who went missing last week near Switzerland’s popular resort of Interlaken.
A shoe found at the exit of the gorge where the Greenwood, Indiana, boy was hiking Friday with his family could belong to him, a spokeswoman for the Bernese cantonal (state) police said. Rescuers had been searching for Noah Kriese near the Truemmelbach waterfalls, where visitors can walk through a mountain to see cascades crashing from inside.
“We searched until last light Sunday, and this morning we did a final search at 6 a.m.,” Ursula Stauffer told The Associated Press. “We didn’t find him.”
She said police had ended their search. “Instead, we will be doing spot checks at key points in the gorge,” Stauffer said.