Search for missing two-year-old who fell into river enters fourth day

Leicestershire Police said a ‘large number’ of people had contacted the force after an appeal for witnesses.

The boy was with family members when he fell into the fast-flowing River Soar in Leicester on Sunday (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

Leicestershire Police has received a large number of responses to an appeal for witnesses after a two-year-old boy fell into the River Soar on Sunday.

Specialist police divers continued a third full day of searches for the youngster on Wednesday in the Aylestone Meadows area of Leicester, despite difficult conditions caused by heavy rainfall.

Officers confirmed on Tuesday that CCTV footage had been recovered showing the moment the two-year-old local boy, who was with family members, fell into the fast-flowing river, which had burst its banks in parts of the nature reserve.

In a statement, Assistant Chief Constable Michaela Kerr said: “As we now enter the fourth day of the search for the missing boy, we have been truly overwhelmed by the support we have received from forces and other agencies across the country as well as from our communities and the wider public.

“The priority for us all remains to find this little boy and we are grateful for all of your help and support.

“Specialist officers continue to provide full support to the family and our thoughts very much remain with them. I thank them for their bravery, their support and co-operation with us at this extremely traumatic time.

“I would also like to add that following the appeal we issued on Monday evening for witnesses, we have had a large number of responses and have identified a number of people who were in the area at the time who have provided us with information.”

Ms Kerr added: “While the weather conditions today do make the search more difficult for us, this will absolutely not stop our dedicated and specialist teams at the scene from doing everything they can.

“Our search operation today does very much remain ongoing.”