The urgent search is on for two missing kids, a 10-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, who vanished in Sevier County and might be in Kentucky, authorities say. According to WATE News, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office has been on the lookout for Alaina Willis, 10, and Jesse Willis, 15, missing since April 22.

Alaina, standing 4’10” with brown hair and eyes, and Jesse, with a height of 5’11”, sporting red hair and blue eyes, may have traveled to the Pikeville, Kentucky area, and concerned officials are turning every stone to find the siblings, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation joined forces with local deputies heightening the efforts to find the children, as reported by WBIR.

Tips from the public could be the key in tracing their whereabouts, and anyone with a glimpse or a guess on where they might be is urged to call the Sevier County Sheriff's Office at 865-453-4668 or dial 1-800-TBI-FIND for the TBI hotline. The call for community vigilance comes in the face of nearly 400 missing person cases queuing up in Tennessee each year, a chilling statistic that translates to five out of every 100,000 souls, and casting a shadow over the communities grappling with the uncertain fate of the young, as cited from the information provided by WATE News.

Amidst the distressing surge of these disappearances, the plausible crossing of state lines has posed challenges to the local efforts to locate the missing, aggravating the agony of those awaiting news." They may be in the Pikeville, Kentucky area," notes WVLT, expanding the scope of jurisdiction and the span of concerned eyes on the lookout, the cooperation between states in such matters reflects the dire straits in which the search operations exist, caught between hope and dread.