LAUTERBRUNNEN (Switzerland) - SWISS police were searching Saturday for a 12-year-old American boy missing near a popular tourist attraction in the Bernese highlands.

Cantonal (state) police spokeswoman Ursula Stauffer said the boy disappeared late Friday during a hike with his family at the Truemmelbach waterfalls near Lauterbrunnen, about 50 kilometres southeast of the capital, Bern.

Police posted photos of the boy on a missing persons Web site - http: bit.ly/uTCDG - but declined to identify him by name because of Swiss privacy rules.

Ms Stauffer told The Associated Press on Sunday that the boy and his family were from Indiana.

She said police and rescuers were searching the gorge, but had not been able to enter the water because of strong currents caused by meltwater.

According to a police statement other hikers claimed to have seen a person in the rapids around the time of his disappearance. -- AP