Hundreds of mourners bid farewell to French toddler

Several hundred mourners on Saturday gathered at a cathedral in southeastern France to bid an emotional farewell to a boy whose unexplained disappearance aged two-and-a-half in 2023 shocked the country.

Emile Soleil was at the summer home of his grandparents in the Alpine hamlet of Le Haut-Vernet when he vanished in July 2023.

A massive search failed to find any sign of the boy.

In the spring of 2024, the toddler's skull and teeth were discovered some 1.7 kilometres (one mile) from the village but the cause of death remains unexplained.

On Saturday, a Catholic funeral mass was held in the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, a UNESCO-listed medieval Gothic cathedral said to house relics of Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus Christ.

Emile's parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, were in attendance with their two children, including a baby born last year.

A pallbearer was seen carrying a tiny white coffin containing Emile's remains into the basilica as his father looked on.

"We're all waiting for the investigation to be completed, but today is the time to be with the parents," the rector of the basilica, Father Florian Racine, told reporters.

The ceremony was closed to journalists.

"I've been overwhelmed by this whole affair. Who wouldn't be," said Edith Le Maitre, a woman in her '60s.

"I have blond-haired grandchildren like Emile, and sometimes I babysit them," she added.

Some of the guests left the church visibly moved.

"We hope that one day we'll know what has happened," said Maria Carneiro, a 72-year-old native of Braga in northern Portugal.

The woman, who was on holiday in southeastern France, said the ceremony was "very moving" and gave her "goose bumps."

She said that she had "followed the whole affair" from Portugal.

"All the TV channels were talking about it," she added.

Later Saturday, Emile was to be laid to rest in the town of La Bouilladisse where his parents live.

Two neighbours last saw the toddler walking alone on a street in Le Haut-Vernet, 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) up in the Alps on July 8.

He was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts and tiny hiking shoes.

Emile's mother and father were absent on the day of his disappearance.