August Lamont went missing from his grandparents’ home(Image: South Australia Police)

Police searching for a four-year-old boy have issued a devastating update afte he vanished from his grandparents homestead.

August ‘Gus’ Lamont disappeared from the remote location almost a week ago. The little boy, who has blonde curly hair and brown eyes, went missing on Saturday afternoon. Police launched a huge search effort, considered to be one of the biggest in the state’s history, but sadly found no clues.

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Officers were only able to locate one footprint 500m from the property in Yunta, north-east of Adelaide, Australia. Now, police have issued an update, stating that if Gus is found, he probably won’t be alive. Officials have now scaled back the search and have passed the investigation over to their Missing Persons Unit.

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South Australian Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Parrott said: “‘While we’ve all been hoping for a miracle, that miracle was not eventuated. And in the last 48 hours, despite the professional advice it being unlikely that Gus would have survived, we have maintained and in fact increased the effort to try and locate him and bring him back to his family.