Busy mother selling, 2-year-old boy goes missing in East Lombok while playing

A two-year-old boy named Muhammad Rapip Saki, from Desa Sembalun Lawang, Sembalun District, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), went missing under mysterious circumstances while playing near his home on Sunday, 8 March 2026. To date, residents and police are still conducting searches.

Sembalun Police Chief (Kapolsek) Iptu Lalu Subadri explained that the incident began when the child’s mother was busy selling in front of the house. She briefly saw her son playing in a muddy puddle not far from where she was selling.

“The child’s mother saw her son from a distance. The location was only a few metres away,” Subadri said when contacted by detikBali on Sunday night.

After a few minutes, the mother could no longer see her son at the location. She tried to search around the area, but Rapip was not found.

“The mother became panicked and asked other residents for help to search, but he was not found,” he added.

Currently, police together with a search-and-rescue (SAR) team are conducting sweeps along a river not far from the child’s home. The play area was only about 10 metres from the river.

“We immediately moved to conduct searches with the SAR team and residents. The focus of the search is around the last location where the child was seen, in a clump of bamboo, and along the river’s flow. But as of now he has not been found,” Subadri concluded.

Subadri disclosed physical characteristics: fair skin and black hair. The last sighting showed the child wearing a green sweater and bottle-green shorts.

“We will continue searching for the child. We urge the public, especially those with toddlers, to supervise them when they play in open spaces,” Subadri concluded.

(nor/nor)