Part of a human skull and a child's sneakers have been found in a mountain forest in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, where an elementary school girl went missing from a nearby campsite three years ago.

Police say the bone fragment appears to belong to a young person.

Ogura Misaki from the city of Narita, Chiba Prefecture, went missing in September 2019. She was visiting the campsite with her family. Misaki was a first grader at the time.

The bone fragment was found by a man on the side of a mountain trail in Doshi Village on April 23. The site was about 600 meters from the campground.

Police discovered the right sneaker on Thursday and the left sneaker and a sock on Friday along a dry stream.

Police say the sneakers were emerald green and the size was 20 centimeters, matching the description of the sneakers Misaki was wearing when she disappeared.

Police believe these items may have been swept from further upstream by flooding associated with heavy rain or other conditions.

Police say the area where the items were found had already been checked during their extensive search three years ago.

They plan to continue their search mainly along the stream to see if they can find anything that might lead to the missing girl.