Parents of missing Aston teen relive anxious wait

Dec 2 2010 by Vicky Farncombe, Birmingham Mail

A COUPLE still grieving over the death of their daughter today said they feared they would lose their young son when he went missing amid freezing conditions.

Factory worker Saleem, aged 41, and Shazia Bhatti, aged 39, of Arden Road, Aston, woke on Tuesday morning to find their terminally-ill son Hassan was not in his bed and had not gone to school.

The 13-year-old suffers from a rare genetic condition which can cause him to slip into a coma without regular medication, and his devastated parents feared the worst.

With the help of friends and police, they began a frantic city search, combing the streets and putting out appeals in the Bullring and on buses and trains, and an appeal went out on the front page of yesterday’s Birmingham Mail.

They printed off photos and stuck them up around the streets – all the while knowing that their vulnerable son would be feeling colder and more disorientated.

“It was so icy. We were so worried about him. Even after being out for just one hour, our fingers were frozen, and he didn’t even have any gloves,” said full-time mum Shazia. “He picked the worst day to go missing.”

After an agonising 15 hours, the Broadway School pupil was eventually picked up nearly five miles away in a restaurant on Ladypool Road. He can’t remember what happened.

“I don’t know how I got there,” said Hassan. “It was like I had been sleepwalking.

“I had no emotions and I had no control over my hands.

“I remember getting on a bus but I didn’t know where I was or where I was going.”