Associated Press
The Latest on search for boy dragged away by alligator (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says searchers have recovered the body of a 2-year-old Nebraska boy snatched by an alligator at Walt Disney World.
The boy was attacked Tuesday night as he waded in shallow water at the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon at Disney’s Grand Floridian resort.
Demings identified the boy as Lane Graves of Elkhorn, Nebraska.
The search team grew to 50 people Wednesday as trappers and divers searched Disney’s network of man-made canals, ponds and lakes. At least five other alligators were caught and cut open before they found the killer.
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12:20
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says Walt Disney World has been providing “amazing” support as they search for the body of a 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator.
Experienced alligator trappers, sheriff’s department divers and sonar equipment are being used to search a network of man-made canals, ponds and lakes where the gator may have taken the boy.
The sheriff says that after 15 hours of searching, the attack is “certainly not survivable at this point.”
Demings says Disney has never had anything like this happen in 45 years of operations. He says the theme parks’ wildlife management system works diligently to keep guests safe from dangerous Florida creatures, removing or killing any alligators they find.
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12:10
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says some 50 people are now “working on recovering the body” of a 2-year-old boy snatched by an alligator at Walt Disney World.
He says the boy’s family “will no question lose a 2-year-old child.”
Some 50 people are now using sonar equipment as they search a system of lakes and ponds linked by canals to the Seven Seas Lagoon where the boy was attacked while wading in about a foot of water at 9 p.m. Tuesday night.
Demings says they are trying to “bring some closure to this family.”
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11:45
Disney is closing all beach areas in its Lake Buena Vista resorts after an alligator dragged away a 2-year-old boy at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
The company announced Wednesday that it’s closing the beaches in “an abundance of caution.”
Officials say the little boy was wading at the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon around nightfall Tuesday when an alligator estimated to be between 4 feet and 7 feet long dragged him under.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the family of four from Nebraska arrived on Sunday in Orlando, where only hours earlier, a gunman’s attack on a gay nightclub left 49 people dead. Two days before that, 22-year-old Christina Grimmie, a contestant on season six of “The Voice,” was killed in Orlando while signing autographs after a show.
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10:40 a.m.
The Nebraska governor says his heart goes out to the family of a 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator while on vacation at a Disney resort in the Orlando, Florida, area.
The Nebraska family’s name has not been released, and Gov. Pete Ricketts’ office said in a statement Wednesday that all they know was what they have seen in media reports.
The Orange County sheriff says the boy was wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon at Walt Disney World on Tuesday evening when an alligator dragged the child into the water. Authorities are still searching for the child.
Ricketts says “no family should ever have to experience such horror” and that he and his wife are praying for them.
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6:40 a.m.
Authorities in Orlando, Florida, are still searching for a 2-year-old boy who was dragged into the water by an alligator near Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and are hoping for the best.
Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Williamson said at a Wednesday morning news conference that it’s still being considered a search and rescue operation and additional deputies will be joining the search.
The boy was with his family on vacation from Nebraska, and was wading in the water of the Seven Seas Lagoon on Tuesday night when the alligator came out of the water and attacked.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says the boy’s father tried to rescue him but was not able to.
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1:30 a.m.
Authorities in Orlando are searching for a 2-year-old boy who was dragged into the water by an alligator near Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Speaking at a news conference early Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says the family from Nebraska was on vacation and wading in a lake Tuesday evening when the attack happened. Demings says the father tried to rescue the child but was unsuccessful.
Demings says more than 50 law enforcement personnel are searching the Seven Seas Lagoon for the boy and will keep looking.
Demings says there have been no other recent reports of similar alligator attacks at the lake.
Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
