A desperate search continues in Amaranth Township for a three-year-old boy who was swept from his mother’s arms after their van was pulled into the Grand River.
Emergency crews have narrowed their search for the boy to a 10 to 15 kilometres stretch of the river. Police are now calling this a recovery mission.
The child has been identified by several sources as Kaden Young.
“We are over 24 hours. (There is a) very slim chance that the young lad would survive that long in that cold, cold water,” OPP Const. Paul Nancekivell says. “Our whole goal today is to bring an end to this tragedy and bring some closure to the family.”
Water levels in the Grand River have significantly receded and investigators hope this will help them in the search.
“The water has gone down tremendously, it’s dropped probably four or five feet so we are hoping it will expose a lot more shoreline so we can see. We also have our OPP emergency response team, so we will be searching both sides of the Grand River,” OPP Const. Paul Nancekivell said.
Police say the boy and his mother were travelling on a foggy stretch of the 10th Line when she went through a roadblock. The roadblock was set up because of flooding on the road.
The OPP says the van was then swept into the Grand River by fast-moving water. The woman was able to get out of the van and grab her son, but the boy was pulled from her arms by the raging water.
The woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The van she was driving was pulled from the water on Wednesday afternoon.
The search for the boy was suspended on Wednesday night, but restarted on Thursday morning.
With files from CTV Toronto.
