KATHMANDU: Of the total 876 children, who went missing in the first three months in various parts of the country of the current fiscal, only 316 have been found while the whereabouts of 560 still remain unknown, according to Children Search Coordination Centre, Kathmandu.

According to the centre’s Deputy Superintendent of Police Krishna Bahadur Rajbhandari, the whereabouts of 64 per cent of the total missing children in Nepali month Shrawan, Bhadra and Ashwin still remain unknown.He added that even their parents did not file missing person complaints.

Province 3 recorded the highest number of missing children in the last three months. Of the total 172 children who were reported missing in the province, 65 are from Kathmandu Valley alone. Altogether 137 children went missing in Province 1; 142 in Province 2, 99 in Province 4; 145 in Province 5 and 80 in Province 7, said DSP Bhandari.

Of the total 876 missing children, 597 were girls. Similarly, of the children who were found  209 were girls and 107 boys, shared Bhandari.

Of the children who were found 77 were reunited with their families while the remaining 66 were sent to Child Protection Centre.

During the Dashain festival, 12 children who went missing were found by the police. Of them, two were reunited with their families, the centre added.