A 14-year-old American boy missing for three days after he walked away from a Caribbean Princess cruise ship at a German port was found safe Saturday, police and a family member said.
Aydin Brown had been on the cruise with his grandmother, but left the ship after its scheduled stop at Rostock-Warnemünde on Thursday morning, authorities said.
Rostock city police said in a statement that the teenager was found about 10 p.m. Saturday in the city of Brandenburg, which is about 120 miles south of the port.
“Intensive investigations and the analysis of technical data led the Rostock criminal police to track down the youth, who had been staying near Potsdam,” the Rostock department said.
Potsdam is a city adjacent to Brandenburg. Both are just west of Berlin. A family member of Brown’s provided initial confirmation late Saturday that the teen had been found safe.
Authorities said a 19-year-old who Brown apparently had arranged to meet was with him Saturday night. “There is no evidence of a criminal offense,” Rostock police said in their statement.
Earlier Saturday, state and local police distributed three new photos of Brown as their search continued. Two of the photos, captured from security video, included an unknown man who appeared to be speaking with Brown. In an earlier statement, Rostock municipal police said they wanted to identify him as they searched for the missing teen.
Princess Cruises said in a statement late Saturday that Brown had been reunited with family and thanked German authorities for finding the teenager.
“We are delighted that Aydin Brown has been found safe and sound,” the cruise line said in a statement Saturday. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to German authorities for their swift response and exceptional efforts in locating Aydin after he disembarked in Warnemunde last Thursday morning.”
Brown’s grandmother left the ship Thursday night amid the first hours of the search for Brown, Princess Cruises said on Friday, and the company flew his mother to Germany.
According to cruise ship tracker CruiseMapper, the 12-day journey travels the Baltic Sea, with destinations that include Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden. The round-trip cruise started in Southampton, England, on June 30 and was scheduled to return on July 12, according to the site.
Carlo Angerer and Simeon Paterson contributed.