Boy reported missing found on island 5,500 miles away from home

Boy reported missing found on island 5,500 miles away from home
(Image credit: iStock)

Missing since September, a 9-year-old boy was found on a South Pacific island 5,500 miles away from where he was last seen.

When Billy Hanson failed to return to his mother's home following a visit with his father in Seattle, she reported him missing. Billy's father, Jeffrey, is an experienced sailor, and the authorities immediately started an international search. The pair was found in late October on the small island of Niue, 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand and more than 5,000 miles from Seattle.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.