Portuguese police have found the charred body of a three-year-old British-German boy in a burned-out car and his father’s body nearby in a rural area some 100 km south of Lisbon in what they believe is a murder-suicide, local authorities said on Monday. A local police spokesman in Grandola said the bodies were found on Sunday and the case was being handled by Portugal’s criminal investigation police, who would not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The British embassy in Lisbon told Reuters it was “supporting the family of a British-German dual national child who has sadly died in Portugal”. Local media said the father was an architect and a German national. The British mother had reported her son missing a week ago, according to media reports.

The father’s body was reportedly found near the car with a gunshot wound to the head and the baby’s body was inside the vehicle, which appeared to have been set on fire by the father before he shot himself, local media said. Portuguese Jornal de Noticias newspaper said the couple had broken up earlier this year but both stayed in Portugal. The father picked up his son from his mother’s house last week but never returned, it added.

The British embassy said consular staff had been in regular contact with the child’s family and local authorities since they were first reported missing and “will continue to support them at this very difficult time”.

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