The body of a 13-year-old boy who went missing on Friday was recovered on Saturday from woodland near Comilla University, showing signs of severe head injuries, Mahmudul Hasan, an assistant proctor at the university, said.

Ishiyat Shahriar Opratim, the son of KM Firoz Shahriar, a teacher in the university’s Bangla department, was found at around 1 pm in woodland beside Magic Paradise Park, near the university, Hasan said.

He said the body was handed over to police at the Cumilla Sadar South station. The police will take further action.

Opratim, a class seven student, had left his family’s residence in the Kotbari area of Sadar South on foot at around 3 pm on Friday and did not return. His father had filed a general diary (GD) with the Cumilla Sadar South police station over his disappearance.

Following his disappearance, his mother, Dr Nahida Begum, posted an appeal on Facebook seeking help to find her son. She wrote that she had been unable to find Opratim since 3 pm and said he had been wearing a blue panjabi when he went missing and had taken her iPhone to take photographs with friends. She appealed to people to help from wherever they could and said she had informed the police station.

Begum said the phone number could not be traced and suggested that he was probably not carrying the phone. She added that the phone containing his Facebook account had been left at home.