A dive team at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida has recovered the body of a two-year-old boy who was dragged into a manmade lagoon by an alligator at the park. The boy’s body was reportedly intact, suggesting that the alligator had drowned him when pulling him into the water.
Officials had earlier confirmed that there was “no question” the toddler had been killed in the attack.
The 2-year-old boy grabbed by alligator at Disney hotel has been found dead, a source says https://t.co/SyWdOq9L87 https://t.co/xLMVr0orfE
— CNN (@CNN) June 15, 2016
The child had been playing at the edge of the lagoon when he was taken. There are “no swimming” signs visible around the body of water, but the child and his family, who were holidaying from Nebraska, were relaxing and playing on the shore.
Alligator sightings are reportedly quite common in the lagoon, and are usually removed by the state’s wildlife commission if they become a nuisance. Disney World officials claim that no such incident of this kind has occurred in 45 years of the park’s operation.
Nick Wiley, head of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, reported that five alligators were captured from the lagoon and euthanised in an attempt to find the child, but none were culpable for the attack. The dive team instead found the body after scouring the lagoon, which is four metres deep at points.
Wiley continued. “It’s very surprising, it’s an extremely rare occurrence in anywhere you have alligators but we do ask people to be mindful that we do have alligators in the water in Florida and you have to be careful,” Wiley said.
“But it’s very rare and it really is a shock to us to see this happen.”
Source: ABC News.
Photo: CNN.
