Search for missing baby to resume off SA coast amid community 'shock'

Search for missing baby to resume near Port MacDonnell as police vow to leave 'no stone unturned' Wed 29 Jul 2026 at 6:43am In short: Police say crews and volunteers looking for a missing three-month-old near Port MacDonnell will gather at first light on Wednesday before resuming the search later in the morning. The bodies of the baby's mother and sister were recovered from the water on Monday. What's next? Police are investigating the circumstances of the horrific tragedy, which the local mayor says has left locals "kind of stunned". A search for a missing three-month-old in South Australia's South East will today enter its third day, after the state's premier described the deaths of the boy's mother and sister as tragedies "that shock you to the core". Dangerous weather conditions forced police to suspend the search near Port MacDonnell, at the south-eastern tip of the state, yesterday afternoon with no sign of the missing baby boy. Police have conceded it is "very, very unlikely" he has survived, but have vowed to leave "no stone unturned". The alarm was raised that morning, when emergency services were called to a car park at the nearby headland of Cape Northumberland. Police said the woman's car — a white Isuzu MU-X, with South Australian registration S592 BJR — was found "abandoned with its engine running", and the bodies of the woman and her daughter were later recovered. The circumstances have caused distress and grief within the South East, but also throughout the state. "These types of tragedies are the ones that shock you to the core. There are a lot of unanswered questions here," South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said on Tuesday. "Wherever we see the loss of anybody, it's a tragedy. Where it involves children, that breaks your heart." Mayor of the Southern Limestone Coast Council, Kylie Boston, said the community's thoughts were with the family. "Everybody is just kind of stunned because you hope these things don't ever happen and it's just sad that something like this has happened,"she said. "Regional communities are really resilient, and we'll get behind everybody and support everybody. "That's all we can all do." Port MacDonnell post office manager Linda Driver said the region was "close knit", and she praised the efforts of local volunteers who had joined the search. "Kudos to the community — the boys will always put their boats in, they'll always go out and have a look," she said. "It's something that hits the whole town … [and] it does hit everything really hard. "It's a ripple effect of what happens within the community, so everybody's going to be looking out for each other in the next few weeks." On Tuesday afternoon, local police said search teams would gather at first light on Wednesday and estimated the search would resume about 8am. "We'll hold a briefing for our emergency services personnel and volunteers who are assisting, as well as the police," Superintendent Trent Cox said. "The forecast is that it's not as extreme as today — still challenging. It's an exposed area." Police said strong winds meant that yesterday's search, even before it was suspended, was confined to land. The premier yesterday cautioned the public not to jump to conclusions about the circumstances of the case, which Superintendent Cox said remained under investigation. "We are keeping a very open mind as to the circumstances that led to the mother and daughter being in the water, and the other child being missing," he said. "There are a number of scenarios we're investigating." Police have said there is nothing to suggest "any other persons are involved in the incident".