A three-year-old boy who failed to return home from a day care in Prince George, B.C. this week was found safe several hours later – locked in the day-care centre's van.
The child's parents had called police after the van failed to drop him off at their home Monday.
That triggered a frantic search by the RCMP, a police dog as well as staff from the South Fort George Daycare.
"This is something where we pull out all the stops," said RCMP Const. Gary Godwin. "We have a child that's missing. We don't know where he is. We throw all the manpower [at the search] we can."
The searchers found the boy sleeping inside the day-care's van, which was locked and parked in a secured garage next to a community centre.
His parents said he was tired and dehydrated, but otherwise all right.
Godwin said it appeared the boy boarded the vehicle without being seen by the driver, who was keeping track of who had to be dropped off that day.
The child then fell asleep, out of sight.
Godwin said the day care will now develop a better plan for tracking children who board the minibus, including the addition of a chaperone to help the driver keep an eye on the kids.