NO SIGN OF BRENDAN
Hope dims for boy, 5, who fell in Harlem R.
Authorities on Sunday continued their search for a young boy who went missing after falling into the Harlem River on an outing with his family a day earlier — but did not find the child.
The boy — identified by police sources as 5-year-old Brendan Mitchell — was last seen by his brother after climbing a tree and falling into the murky water shortly before 2:30 p.m. on the Randall’s Island shoreline, witnesses and authorities said.
He was reportedly seen floating away and finally getting pulled under the water.
Brendan had still not been found Sunday despite a two-day search of the area by NYPD and FDNY, which scoured the waters off shore with police boats and teams of divers.
An NYPD patrol boat continued to search the water Sunday. Two officers — one holding a 6-footlong pole — were walking along the waterline on The Bronx side of the river while firefighters scanned the surface with binoculars.
Shortly before noon, police divers went into the water. However, the search was abandoned before 4 p.m.
Police did not say if the search had been entirely abandoned.
“Yesterday they said they were looking for a kid,” a jogger who identified himself only as Stan told The Post on Sunday.
“Today it looks like they’re searching for a body, pushing that stick into the mud like that,” he said. “It’s godawful.”
The missing boy was with his family near the water at Harlem River Field 7 when he tumbled in, according to sources.
Witnesses said Mitchell’s parents and other adults jumped into the river in a desperate attempt to save the boy, but ultimately came up empty after failing to find him in the dark waters.
“I saw a little arm out of the water, that was it,” Luis Ramos, who was coaching soccer nearby, told The Post on Saturday. “The last thing I saw was an arm sticking out.”
Resident Edwin Flores said he was taking photographs nearby on Saturday when he saw the child’s distressed parents coming out of the water soaking wet after a failed attempt to find their son.
“From there you could see the women,” Flores said in Spanish. “They were wet.
“The two jumped into the water,” he added. “Quickly. The child disappeared one-two-three. That’s what they told me.”
Flores said he takes photos in the area almost every day — and said the river’s current was strong and the tide was high when the incident occurred. He said the current appeared calmer on Sunday.