The Smile of the Child

The Smile of the Child (Hamogelo tou Paidiou) helped more than 90,000 children last year, including victims of violence and abandonment, the Greek charity said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that the figure is similar to previous years.

A toddler died on Tuesday morning after falling into an underground sewage pit on the premises of a children's home run by the Smile of the Child, a non-profit child welfare organization, on the eastern outskirts of Corinth in southern Greece.

Social media giant Facebook and the Smile of the Child charity have joined forces in the search for missing children.

The initiative, announced at a press conference at the charity's headquarters in Athens on Monday, aims to ensure that announcements regarding missing children reach a wider audience as fast as possible.

The Smile of the Child Director Costas Giannopoulos said that the 11 refuge homes in Athens might need to close within months because companies can no longer afford to sponsor these. Speaking to Sky News, he said: “It’s devastating. 380 children are expecting us to continue their lives, so there is no way we can abandon them for a second time.”

A European alert has been issued to locate Ani Borisova, a 4-year-old girl who went missing in Athens on April 21, Bulgarian and Greek media outlets say.

Bulgarian public broadcaster reported that the girl's life might be in danger, according to Greek authorities cited by local news websites.

Ani is described as having brown hair and brown eyes.