The search for four-year-old August ‘Gus’ Lamont has entered its second month with police confirming a dam on his family’s remote South Australian sheep station had been drained — but no trace of the missing boy was found.
Gus vanished from Oak Park Station, about 40km south of Yunta in SA’s Mid North, on September 27.
Despite one of the largest search operations in the state’s history, the boy remains missing.
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The dam — located roughly 600m from the homestead and previously searched by divers — was emptied to allow for a clearer sweep of the waterway and its vegetation.
South Australia Police said the move was aimed at “ruling out the possibility the boy may have drowned”.
The operation to drain the main dam into the southern dam commenced at 9.15am on Friday.
Experts pumped water out of the dam at approximately 15,000 litres per minute, with a total of 3.2 million litres of water eventually removed.
Police divers searched the dam and the holding dam, including clearing of weed beds, however, there was nothing of significance found.
A third search has failed to find missing Yunta boy August Lamont. Credit: SAPOL/7NEWSNo trace of Gus Lamont has been found. Credit: 7NEWS
Gus was last seen around 5pm, playing on a mound of dirt near the homestead.
When his grandmother called him in for dinner just 30 minutes later, he was gone.
The only clue found during the initial search was a single footprint discovered on September 30, about 500m from where Gus was last seen.
Over the past month, hundreds of police officers, SES volunteers and Australian Army personnel have scoured more than 60,000 hectares of rugged terrain.
Drone imaging and infrared technology were deployed, but failed to uncover any leads.
Police have said there’s no evidence of foul play.
Gus’s mother and a grandparent were reportedly tending to their flock at the time, while Gus was with his grandmother and younger brother Ronnie. His father reportedly lives off the property.
Gus has long curly blonde hair and was wearing a blue long-sleeved Minions T-shirt, a grey sun hat and boots when he went missing
Anyone with any information are urged to contact police.
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