Thousands of volunteers join search for three year old girl snatched from kindergarten

It's what every parent dreads, their child taken away, but thousands of Siberians are volunteering for the search to find her.

Viktoria Vylegzhanina was kidnapped from her kindergarten in Tomsk. A one million rouble ($27,750) reward has been offered for information on her abductor. 

According to the Investigative Committee which is leading efforts to track down the child, Vika was led away by 'an unidentified man in an unknown direction.' 

Police said the girl was allegedly seen with a 40-year-old man in coloured T-shirt and sweatpants.

Galina Vylegzhanina, Viktoria's mother said: 'I came to the kindergarten and the staff said that my daughter had been collected already.' Frantic, she called her husband Eduard, but he had not taken their daughter. 

'I rushed to search in all the places she knew. I checked the playground, where she loves the swings so much, and where she spends a lot of time.

'Then I went home and checked all around. We thought that we could find by ourselves and I called the police after an hour (when we couldn't find her).

'It was about 7 pm.'

It is unclear why the carer - known as a nurse - at the kindergarten allowed Vika to depart with a strange man. 

'I do not blame the nurse, she is a good woman,' said Galina. 'I like her and the children love her very much.'

Her husband said: 'My wife called me and asked - did you take Vika from kindergarten? I said - no. Then she said: 'Our girl is missing.'

He is convinced it is not anyone who the family knows.

'Any child could be in our Vika's place,' he said. 'It was not someone we knew. I think that he pulled her over the fence.'

Tomsk mayor Ivan Klein has praised volunteers who joined the hunt for the missing girl - 600 on Friday, and 550 on Saturday. Many came with dogs. 

Klein adds: 'We examined almost the entire territory, woodlands.'

There was no trace of the girl, though earlier this week her clothes, a dress, blue hat and orange sandals were found. Vika's mother identified the clothes and forensic tests are underway.