The number of missing refugee children in Germany continues to spiral upward amid concerns about their fate.
The German Criminal Police (BKA) said 9,000 refugee children are now unaccounted for and their whereabouts are unknown. Most of the youngsters in Germany had emigrated from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Morocco and Algeria.
According to BKA, 867 children are under the age of 13, while most of them are aged between 14 to 17.
International NGOs have warned that traffickers or criminals may attempt to prey on vulnerable youngsters, who had travelled to Europe to flee from violence or conflict in their homeland.
BKA, however, denied the possibility of them having fallen into the hands of criminal syndicates. “These children went missing while travelling to other cities or countries where their family members or relatives reside," it stated.