A two-year-old boy is missing after he was dragged into a lagoon by an alligator at a Disney World resort in Orlando despite his father's frantic attempts to wrestle his son from the reptile's jaws.
The boy was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon near the upmarket Grand Floridian Resort & Spa around 9:20pm on Tuesday as he paddled in a foot of water with his parents and four-year-old sister despite ‘no swimming’ signs being posted nearby.
Sheriffs say there is little hope of finding the boy alive after his father’s unsuccessful struggle with the seven-foot reptile.
Alligators are a relatively common sight at the Walt Disney World resort but are removed and relocated when they reach four foot and get too near to guest areas.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the boy, who was part of a family of five arrived in Orlando on vacation from Nebraska on Sunday.
He told a news conference early this morning that the parents and their three children had been on the beach at the time of the attack.
Demings said: 'The father entered the water and tried to grab the child but he was not successful in doing so. I'm told that at some point, the mother also entered the water.'
He said that the family had been enjoying a 'movie night' and the child had been in a play pen.
Later, as the boy played, he waded in about one foot of water with his mother and the alligator - believed to be anywhere between four and seven feet long - attacked.
'As they waded into the water -along the lake's edge- at the time, that's when the alligator attacked,' he said.
He added that the family alerted a nearby lifeguard but they were not able to save the boy. The father was left with scratches after the ordeal.
'We are not leaving until we recover the child,' Demings added, saying there were more than 50 law enforcement personnel -who are actively searching the lake.
'The sad reality of it is it's been several hours and we're not likely going to recover a live body.'
'As a father, as a grandfather, we are going to hope for the best in these circumstances but based on my 35 years of experience, we know that we have some challenges ahead,' he said.
Demings said there had been no other recent reports of similar alligator attacks on the lake.
'We have no record of this happening before,' he added.
Chad Weber, with Florida Fish and Wildlife, said that the agency had sent alligator trappers to aid the operation.
'We would like to express thoughts and prayers to the family at this time,' he said. 'We will be here until the child is found.'
Shortly afterwards, authorities were pictured sealing off the area with crime-scene tape and searching the water by helicopter and by boat.
Late on Tuesday night, a man named Christian wrote on Twitter: 'Just overheard a group talking about how the father was wrestling with the alligator. This just gets worse and worse.'
He said that there was a 'movie night' on the beach on Tuesday night, which is where the alligator may have attacked the toddler before dragging the child into the lagoon.
Guests were all asked to leave a hotel balcony overlooking the area by staff, he added.
Others said the family had been watching the Wishes fireworks spectacular, which starts at 9pm and runs for more than 12 minutes, at the time of the reported attack.
Christal Hayes, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, wrote on Twitter: 'A lot of the crowd says the boy was on a beach area along the Seven Seas Lagoon when he was dragged in. No eye witnesses, though.'
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Source: DailyMail, The Sun , Mirror
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