Mother of missing Swiss twins makes emotional TV plea (VIDEO)

The mother of Swiss twins — Alessia and Livia Schepp — missing after their father apparently committed suicide by throwing himself under a train in Italy has made an emotional TV plea for information.

It almost two weeks since the twins — Alessia and Livia Schepp — were taken by Irina Lucidi's estranged husband, Matthias Schepp, from their home in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Appearing on Italian TV, Lucidi said: "I appeal to all witnesses, all persons who may have seen my daughters Alessia and Livia together with their father before his death."

Police in three countries are searching for the girls and a Facebook page has been set up to gather information.

French authorities believe all three boarded a ferry in Marseille bound for Corsica on Jan. 31. They could not confirm whether the twins left the boat.

Schepp, 43, threw himself under a train in Cerignola, southern Italy, on Feb. 4.

An unconfirmed report has also emerged that the girls were seen in Italy with their father shortly before he threw himself under a train.

Italian police have interviewed a coffee shop owner in Cerignola who reported seeing a man and two girls who matched the twins' description.

Prosecutor Jacques Dallest told reporters in Marseilles on Wednesday: "We know since yesterday [Tuesday] from passengers on the boat between Marseille and Propriano that he was with the little girls."

According to the BBC, he said a woman in a neighboring cabin reported hearing "children crying in the evening and that shortly afterwards, she saw the little girls and was able to formally identify one."

Dallest said the woman had later seen the girls in the play room of the boat.

However, he said investigators had drawn a blank as to the girls' whereabouts after the crossing.

He said one witness reported seeing two children get off the ferry in Propriano with an adult but could not be sure it was the missing girls.

Hopes that Schepp had withdrawn money to care for his daughters faded earlier this week when Swiss police confirmed their mother had received several envelopes posted in Bari, Italy, containing a total of 4,400 euros, or about $6,000.

Two more envelopes containing money were found addressed to Lucidi in postboxes in Cerignola.

Their uncle, Dr. Valerio Lucidi, said then that the family’s hopes of finding them alive were fading.
He said the fact Schepp had posted the money suggested he did not intend to use it to care for the twins, Sky News reported.

"This worries us a lot that we received the money, because it shows there is no caregiver. We are really scared that something bad happened. I hope we will find them as soon as possible but our hope is diminishing minute after minute."

But Lucidi said Wednesday: "The fact that all three were seen in Corsica on a ferry is of course a sign of hope that they may be somewhere in somebody's care.

"We hope that [their father] took them to Corsica to hand them to someone. We are holding on to that hope. We we will not give up."