Search for two-year-old boy who fell into River Soar enters fourth day

Police searching the River Soar in Leicester for a missing toddler say the weather conditions are making it more difficult.

The search for the two-year-old boy is into its fourth day after he fell into the water at Aylestone Meadows on Sunday.

The Environment Agency has issued a flood alert for tributaries in the Leicester city area and they say more rain is expected over the next 48 hours. They expect river levels to stay high until the weekend.

Assistant Chief Constable Michaela Kerr says specialist teams from around the country remain at the scene:

“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. We really do thank you for this. 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. Thank you to everyone who has made contact with us and helped us with our enquiries. It is very much appreciated by us all.

“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.”

Officers were first called to the River Soar near Marsden Lane at around 5pm on Sunday (18 February) after the boy fell into the water.

Since Sunday numerous teams from across the country have assisted in the operation including specialist diving teams from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) and drone unit continue to support officers on the ground.

Kent and West Mercia Police Search and Rescue team and the Metropolitan Police Marine Recovery dogs joined the operation yesterday (Tuesday).

The Environment Agency has also supported the operation with their specialist mapping equipment which has assisted officers in identifying key search areas.

Officers continue to ask that, for safety reasons and due to rising water levels, people do not approach the scene themselves.