A massive search is underway for a 2-year-old boy who was dragged into the water Tuesday evening by an alligator near Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida.
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The child was wading just in the water along the lake’s edge at the time that the alligator attacked, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.
The family of four – parents, the boy and his 4-year-old sister – is on vacation from Nebraska, Demings said.
Global media report that the boy, who is from Nebraska, was holidaying with his parents and two siblings, when he was on the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon by the Disney Grand Floridian Resort and Spa late on Tuesday, when the incident occurred. “So the parents diligently tried to get the child”, Sheriff Demings said.
More than 50 law enforcement personnel searched the well-tended lagoon along with an alligator tracker and two marine units in an effort that continued through the night.
Gator attacks are very rare, Wiley said, adding that his office works closely with Disney to remove nuisance alligators when they are sighted.
“The sad reality of it is it’s been several hours and we’re not likely going to recover a live body”, Demings said.
The alligators had to be euthanized to be examined, he said.
Police are searching the waters and have put crime-scene tape around the water.
“As a father, as a grandfather, we’re going to hope for the best in these circumstances”, Sheriff Jerry Demings said at an early morning press conference Wednesday.
“You’re asking a fourth-quarter question in the first quarter”, he said.
“Everyone here at the Walt Disney Resort is devastated by this tragic accident”, said Jacquee Wahler, a vice president at Walt Disney World Resort.
When asked if the resort was aware of alligators on the property, Ms Wahaler advised there were signs that said “no swimming”. “We are doing everything we can help law enforcement”.
This attack is the third tragedy to strike the Orlando area in less than a week.
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“That gator swam away with the child, unfortunately”, he said. On Sunday, a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, leaving 49 victims dead in the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
