The rural community of Ballestero Sud and Córdoba provincial authorities have launched a huge search operation after 3-year-old Lian Gael Flores Soraire went missing from his family home while his parents took a nap on Saturday.

Lian’s parents testified to the local courts that they last saw him just before taking a nap at 3 p.m., and when they woke up at 5 p.m., he had gone, according to local media. They reported the disappearance to police.

On Saturday, Córdoba police, firefighters, prosecutors from the nearby town of Bell Ville, a federal search team known as SIFEBU, and Córdoba’s anti-narcotics police began to sweep the area surrounding the house, a remote terrain of crop fields and dirt roads. Authorities are working closely with locals who know the lay of the land, as well as search dogs and drones. Search efforts have been hampered by heavy rain and hot weather.

“I am very worried, I think someone has him, it hurts a lot,” Lian’s father, Elías Flores, told local channel El Doce on Monday. 

“All I ask is for my son to show up. I don’t know if this is some kind of revenge, but I want my boy to show up,” Flores said. He added that he had not received threats of any kind. He also mentioned that he had seen a truck near his house. “My son can’t have walked more than 100 or 200 meters in this heat.”

Prosecutors and Córdoba police describe Lian as having tan skin, short dark hair, dark eyes. He is around 90 centimeters tall. He was shirtless and barefoot with blue shorts when he went missing. People with information on his whereabouts should call 911 or 134.

On Monday, the national government launched a Sofía Alert for Lian. This system sends notifications to the phones of people in the local area when children go missing, providing a picture and description of them.

The case comes eight months after the disappearance of Loan Danilo Peña in Corrientes. In a case that moved the nation, a massive operation to find the five-year-old was likewise deployed, but he has not been seen since June, 2024.