Hunt for boy, 2, who fell into swollen river
POLICE were last night searching for a two-year-old feared drowned after falling into a swollen river in front of his horrified family.
The boy’s father immediately jumped in from the bridge where they had been standing to try to save him, but he was unable to find the toddler in the fast-flowing murky brown flood water.
The family were on a bridge over the Soar rivr at Aylestone Meadows Local Nature Reserve in Leicester, a spot popular for feeding ducks.
It is currently severely flooded after prolonged heavy rain.
The toddler vanished at a spot where the River Soar converges with the canal network.
His father was taken to hospital as a precaution before being discharged, police said. Yesterday, extensive searches continued with police forces from around the country drafted in.
Specialist search and rescue teams scoured flooded fields with sticks while police divers and underwater experts were also used, along with the National Police Air Service (NPAS) and drone unit. Leicestershire Police Assistant Chief Constable Michaela Kerr said: ‘Our absolute priority is to find this little boy and return him to his family’.
She said it was a ‘heartbreaking time’ for the boy’s family, some of whom were at the riverbank yesterday watching the search.
Emergency services were called at 5pm on Sunday. Dozens of members of the public used torches to try to help find the boy after news spread.
Ms Kerr declined to comment on the circumstances of how the boy fell in, adding the investigation was ‘at an early stage’. The family – who have not yet been named – live locally, she said.
She asked the public to refrain from travelling to the scene as the search was ‘being professionally co- ordinated,’ adding: ‘We want nothing to jeopardise that.’
Last night the force appealed for a dog walker who is thought to have been walking along the footpath near the bridge at around 5pm on Sunday to come forward.
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South, said the situation was ‘ devastating beyond belief’.
A resident whose home overlooks Aylestone Meadows said recent flooding from the Soar had left parts of the nature reserve in a treacherous state. She said a nearby canal and the river sometimes ‘go into one’ at peak periods.
‘Devastating beyond belief’