A British teenager who went missing six years ago on a family holiday in Spain has been found in southwestern France, French media reported overnight.
Broadcasters BFMTV and TF1 cited the prosecutors' office in Toulouse as saying that Alex Batty, 17, has been found.
BFMTV said a delivery driver spotted the adolescent looking lost and haggard by the side of a road and drove him to a police station.
The Toulouse prosecutors' office did not immediately respond to after-hours questions sent by email and text message by The Associated Press.
In the United Kingdom, the Greater Manchester Police said officers from Alex's hometown of Oldham are in contact with French authorities to establish the authenticity of the reports.
The force said his mother, Melanie Batty, and his grandfather, David Batty, are wanted in connection with the teenager's disappearance and that their whereabouts are unknown. He travelled with them on the trip to Spain in 2017, when he was 11.
"This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place," the force said.
The BBC reports Alex's mother did not have parental guardianship of him.
A police source told the broadcaster that Alex said he had been in France for two years, living in remote valleys and travelling around.
The area at the foothills of the Pyranees "is known for attracting people in search of alternative lifestyles", the BBC noted.
The teen's grandmother and legal guardian told the broadcaster in 2018 that she thought Melanie and David had taken Alex to live in a spiritual community in Morocco. She said the pair wanted to live an "alternative lifestyle".
"[Alex told the delivery driver] he found his mother a bit weird and decided he didn't want this kind of life, and that he wanted to set his own path - that's why he decided to leave," a local reporter said. "He asked the driver if he could borrow his phone and sent a message via Facebook to his grandmother, saying he was fine and wanted to see her."
The teen had reportedly been wandering through the hills for days.
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