UPDATE:

Police have located the body of a child in a barrel, authorities are yet to formally identify the remains.

A crime scene has been established and is being examined by specialist forensic officers.

EARLIER:

A man has been charged with alleged murder over the disappearance of nine-year-old girl Charlise Mutten in the Blue Mountains.

As part of the investigations, detectives from Strike Force Buena arrested a 32-year-old man in Surry Hills on Tuesday, January 18 at approximately 8.30pm. He was taken to Surry Hills Police Station and charged with alleged murder and is due to appear in court on January 19.

Strike Force Buena was established by Blue Mountains Police Area Command, assisted by the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad, to investigate the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl after she was reported missing from Mt Wilson on Friday, January 14.

A large scale coordinated search was launched to find the missing nine year old which involved over 100 officers from local police, Police Rescue, the Dog Unit, PolAir, State Emergency Service (SES), Rural Fire Service (RFS), and NSW Ambulance.

A New South Wales Police spokesperson told 7 News the homicide squad had been called in on January 17 to assist the search efforts.

“A number of squads usually assist with these types of searches and homicide is just one of these,” the spokesperson said.

Charlise Mutten, aged nine, is described as being of Caucasian appearance, between 130cm and 140cm tall, of thin build, with brown hair and brown eyes.

It is believed she was last seen wearing a pink top with a round neck collar, a black knee-length skirt, and pink Nike thongs.