3 kids rescued after being locked in house by parents since COVID-19 pandemic

Three siblings have been rescued from a house in Spain after being forced by their parents to stay there and strictly follow lockdown measures like wearing face masks since 2021—at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local media outlets El Comercio, El Mundo, and ABC reported that the 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old child finally got out of their Oviedo home last week. 

While the siblings weren’t malnourished, authorities noted that they were “dirty, and completely cut off from reality.” 

One of the investigators recalled how the victims “began to breathe deeply, as if they had never been outside before” when they were rescued. They added that the kids looked excited even over simple things like being outside and touching grass again.

“The children were in terrible shape,” they told El Mundo, calling it “absolutely outrageous.”

“When we took them out of the house, into the garden, where they wouldn’t even go outside, they saw a snail and went crazy, freaked out."

Police were alerted about the situation by their neighbor on April 14. The latter filed a complaint and noted that they noticed the children haven't been going to school for years, prompting an investigation. 

According to authorities, the parents have been arrested and are now facing complains in line with domestic violence and child abandonment.