A 7-month-old baby boy has died after being found “unresponsive” in a lake at a park in Queensland, Australia. The child’s mother pulled him from the water before emergency services arrived, and he was later pronounced dead. Authorities are investigating the incident, which they have labeled “unexplained” but not “suspicious.”
According to the Queensland Police, officers responded to a report of an unresponsive infant at a park off Gympie Curra Road in Chatsworth at approximately 10:40 a.m. local time on a recent weekend. The child was rushed to the hospital but was ultimately declared dead on Saturday night.
Police said the boy had been camping at the park overnight with his parents and were preparing to head home to North Queensland when the incident occurred.
Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield of the Wide Bay-Burnett police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that a homicide team was brought in to assist with the investigation. “There’s missing parts leading [up to the death] that we need to try to establish,” he said. “We’ve got some support from the child trauma unit and homicide investigation group working with the local detectives.”
Mansfield also stated that “multiple people assisted with CPR” after the mother retrieved the child from the water. He noted that other campers and visitors were in the area at the time and that police are working to track down vehicles that left the scene. “Police are appealing to anyone who was at the park off Gympie Curra Road between 9-11am on 12 July to contact police,” the Queensland Police stated in a news release.
The infant’s parents are currently “assisting police with enquiries.” While the death is not being treated as suspicious, it is still considered “unexplained.” Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact police through Policelink or Crime Stoppers.
