A 9-year-old girl who disappeared Sunday afternoon was found dead in the Fujikoto River in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, police said Monday.

Ayaka Hatakeyama, a fourth-grader at Fujisato Elementary School, went missing after leaving her home in the town of Fujisato to visit a friend's house at around 4 p.m., police said.

She was last seen by an elementary school student in the neighborhood at around that time and apparently did not visit any of the homes of her close friends, the police said.

About 100 people including police officers and firefighters had been searching for her, the police said.