Search continues for missing baby after bodies of woman, toddler pulled from ocean

Search continues for missing baby after bodies of woman, toddler pulled from ocean While police are “keeping an open mind about everything" they did not “hold out great hope” for the baby. “The child is less than one year old,” one officer told the press A search remains underway for a missing infant with police expressing 'grave concerns' for the baby after the bodies of a mother and toddler were pulled from the sea. The state emergency service and police were called to a beach in South Australia on Monday (July 28) just after 11am local time after a car was found west of Port MacDonnell with its engine still running. Officers will resume their search for the missing baby in the coastal waters of the small town, 477 kilometres south-east of the state capital of Adelaide, on Tuesday morning. Superintendent Trent Cox said on Monday (July 27) that the baby was with the 36-year-old mum earlier in the day. “The baby is known to have been with the mother earlier that day but as to whether the baby was still with her when the vehicle was left, that’s open to speculation,” Cox said, adding: “I honestly don’t know.” He said while police were “keeping an open mind about everything" they did not “hold out great hope” for the baby. “The child is less than one year old,” he told NCA. He added: “In any conditions, that would cause great concern about the child’s ability to survive, if not in the water.” The search for the missing child was called off on Monday night after conditions became too dangerous to continue. The break at Port MacDonnell as per time of writing is producing five footers, or waves two times overhead. Water temperatures are 15C and the temperature out of the water is 12C - very cold conditions. SA Police will continue the search on Tuesday, as officers are determined "to find the missing child”, Superintendent Cox said. “We wish incidents like this didn’t happen, but we’ve got to maintain the safety of not just emergency services, but we’ve been assisted by a number of volunteers as well with their boats. We need to be very much aware of their welfare," he said, “The conditions were not easy for the waterborne assets, and I’m led to believe that (Tuesday) is not going to be an easy day either.” He added the incident was “tragic” for everyone involved. I can’t imagine what the family are going through. “It’s tragic for them. It’s an awful thing for emergency services and the community to have to deal with.” Police have since released an image of the car that they say belonged to the woman. Anyone who may have seen a white Isuzu MU-X, with South Australian registration S592 BJR, in the Mount Gambier, Compton, or Port MacDonnell areas on Monday are urged to contact Crime Stoppers.