A parents worst nightmare is unraveling in Lake Buena Vista, Florida as authorities continue their search for a 2-year-old Nebraska boy who was snatched away by an alligator at a lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa on Tuesday night.
According to the New York Times, the attack occurred around 9:15 pm on Tuesday on the beach area of the artificial Seven Seas Lagoon at Walt Disney Resort. The boy was at the water’s edge with his mother, father, and 4-year-old sister when the alligator locked its jaw around the toddler and pulled him into the lagoon.
“The father entered the water and tried to grab the child and was not successful in doing so,” Sheriff Demings told an army of media this morning. He momentarily wrestled with the alligator but retuned from the water without the child and “minor lacerations on his arm.” The boy’s mother reportedly jumped into the lagoon as well to unhinged her child, unsuccessfully. The parents then alerted a lifeguard on duty who Sheriff Demings said was “too far away.”
Horror at #Disney World! Tragedy hits #Orlando again; 2-year-old boy dragged into lagoon by alligator at resort. pic.twitter.com/uFsvizqdGd
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) June 15, 2016
Per the Times,
A search involving dozens of staff members from the sheriff’s office, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Disney employees continued overnight, but so far “to no avail,” Mr. Williamson said. The boats taking part are equipped with sonar equipment and an alligator trapper, and a 10-member dive team is on standby.
Authorities have pulled four alligators out of the lagoon and found no evidence that they were involved in the attack. The alligators had to be euthanized to be evaluated.
Sheriff Demings reported that this attack is the first of its kind in the artificial Seven Seas Lagoon at Walt Disney Resort and alligator attacks in Central Florida are extremely rare. In 2015, the area had its first reported fatal alligator attack since 2007, when a 61-year-old was pulled from a lake north of Orlando after being attacked by a 12-foot alligator that was later shot and killed.
Jeff Williamson, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said of the current situation,
“This is still a search-and-rescue operation. We are hoping for the best. Sometimes you get the worst, but we’re certainly hoping for the best.”
Awful month of June for Florida, which is still reeling from the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history, the fatal shooting of singer Christina Grimmie after a show in Orlando, and now they have an alligator mauling on their hands.
UPDATE 4:45 PM: The body of the two year old has been found intact 18 hours after the unidentified boy first went missing.
[h/t The New York Times]