For the third day in a row, police are searching for Emilia 'Emilietta' Chini, a 75-year-old woman with dementia who went missing from her home on Wednesday evening in the municipality of Maasmechelen in the Limburg province.
On Friday, the search for the missing woman continued into its third day. She disappeared at her home in Eisden-Tuinwijk (Maasmechelen), located on the edge of a large wooded area. The Missing Persons Unit, the Federal Police and the local police, as well as family, friends, neighbours and volunteers, are all searching the nearby forest and along the hiking trails on foot.
"When she disappeared, she spoke to a woman nearby and asked about the street where we used to live as children," her brothers Giovanni and Beppi Chini told VRT. "She has dementia and had very variable days. She must have gotten lost."
At the time of her disappearance, Emilia was not wearing a coat and was wearing slippers, in cold temperatures and rainy weather.
No concrete leads
"The low temperatures can have a major impact, especially with such a vulnerable person. Age also plays a role in this. And, of course, there might be a shock effect when she realises she is all alone," Alain Remue, head of the Missing Persons Cell, told Het Belang van Limburg. "Time is therefore essential. That is why all major resources are deployed.”
Sniffer dogs and drones, as well as a helicopter, have been used to search for the woman, but even after three days of looking and calls to the public for information, there is no concrete lead yet.
While it was initially assumed that the woman made her way to the town centre as several of her family members live close by, her brothers no longer think she was wandering somewhere on the road. "People would have seen her and spoken to her. But no useful tips have been given yet, it seems like no one has seen her."
Teams with rescue dogs gather to join the police searches for Emilietta Chini, at the Eisden-Tuinwijk quarter in Maasmechelen on Friday. Credit; Belga/Pino Misuraca
The sniffer dogs on site are controlled by two dog handlers from the federal police and handlers from BORG, the Belgian Organisation of Rescue Dog Groups. "At the moment, we have divided up a map and distributed it among ourselves. We send the areas of about 1.5 km by 1 km via mobile phone," said the BORG coordinator. "The search conditions are not ideal, there will be more wind and rain and that is not ideal for the dogs."
Emilia Chini is 1.63m tall and of normal build. She has short grey hair and wears glasses. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing blue jeans, a blue sweater, grey slippers and no coat. She suffers from dementia and could appear confused and disoriented.
Anyone who has information about Emilia Chini is asked to fill out the police's tip form here or call the free number 0800 30 300.
