POLICE are searching the Guadalquivir River for the bodies of a young brother and sister who vanished from a park in Cordoba.

The siblings, José and Ruth Bretón Ortiz, aged 2 and 6, were reported missing by their father on Saturday who insisted he lost sight of them for a moment in the park.

A search has been underway since the weekend led by a team of officers from Sevilla headed by Comisario Manuel Piedra Buena, who was in charge of the Marta del Castillo investigation.

But police now say they have ruled out finding the children alive and have sent divers to comb the river for signs of the bodies.

It comes as bone fragments found in the remains of a fire on the father’s family finca in the Las Quemadillas district have been revealed to belong to a dog.

Reports indicate that the children’s father, José Bretón, was taken to the property to explain the findings, but forensics have shown they are not human remains.

Police have questioned the father and other family members, including an uncle and one of the children’s grandmothers, but no one has yet been arrested.

The children normally live with their mother in Huelva, but were visiting their father’s family last weekend following their parents’ recent separation.

His estranged wife reported him on Sunday after she had been informed of her children’s disappearance.

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