Missing toddler found asleep in cupboard

File photo / NZH

An urgent search was launched for a missing two-year-old boy in Rotorua this afternoon, only for him to be found hours later, asleep in a cupboard.

Police said the boy, who they named only as Joshua, was last seen at his home in the suburb of Fairy Springs at 3pm.

Police search and rescue personnel started looking for him and were asking the public for sightings, but at 5.30pm said the search had been called off.

"The child was found well hidden, asleep in a cupboard within the house," police said in a statement.

- NZPA