A “major investigation” is under way to find a five-year-old boy with a brain tumour after he was taken by his parents from hospital without the blessing of doctors.
Hampshire Constabulary said "there are serious concerns" for the life of Ashya King as he needs constant medical care.
“It is vital that we find Ashya today. His health will deteriorate rapidly,” they said.
They said his feeding tube is battery operated and that battery “will run out today”.
Officers said his parents, Brett King (51), and Naghemeh King (45), boarded a cross-Channel ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg at 4pm yesterday with Ashya's six siblings.
In a video posted on YouTube last month, Naveed King said his little brother Ashya had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was undergoing emergency surgery.
Speaking into the camera in a message directly to Ashya, he said: “I haven’t slept. I’ve been awake all night worrying.
“We love you so much. We’re all here for you,” he said.
“Everyone is praying for you. We just want to see your smile again.
“No kid at the age of five deserves to have a brain tumour. Let’s just hope the doctors know what they’re doing and they know exactly where to operate and what to take out, and they take everything out and you can be better.
“And when we look back in 10 years’ time when you’re 15, we can actually see that things have changed for the better. Just because they’re bad at one point doesn’t mean they’ll always be bad.
“I love you so much. I can’t wait to see you.”
In another YouTube video posted earlier this month, Naveed said his family had been staying in a “charity home” and he was visiting his brother twice a day in hospital.
He said Ashya was struggling to move his legs and arms, or swallow food, and had only recently been able to close his eyelids.
“He’s progressing slowly,” Naveed said.
“It still might be a couple of weeks before he can maybe move an arm or two and might be a couple of months before he can walk.”
A spokeswoman for Portsmouth City Council said the family was not known to them.
PA