A heartbreaking tragedy has unfolded at a popular Queensland campsite, where a seven-month-old baby has drowned in unexplained circumstances, prompting a police investigation and a public appeal for information.
The infant boy was found unresponsive in a lake near the Chatsworth Park rest area, just north of Gympie, on Saturday morning. His mother had raised the alarm after discovering him in the water, only 50 metres from their family’s tent. The family had camped overnight while travelling home to Far North Queensland.
Emergency services were called to the scene, and multiple people performed CPR on the child before he was rushed to hospital. Despite desperate efforts to save him, the baby was pronounced dead later that evening.
Queensland Police have since called in homicide detectives and are treating the death as “unexplained”.
Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said investigators are working to piece together what led to the tragedy and have urged anyone who was in the area between 9am and 11am on Saturday to come forward.
“We’re treating this as an unexplained death,” Mansfield said on Monday. “We’re actually just investigating further to try to establish why and how this incident occurred.”
When asked about unconfirmed reports the baby may have been thrown into the lake, Mansfield said officers could not speculate but stressed the importance of eyewitness accounts.
“There’s missing parts leading into [the child’s death] that we need to try to establish and square away. This is the part where we need public assistance to ascertain exactly how that occurred.”
Mansfield confirmed there was no current evidence to suggest the incident was related to mental health concerns and said both parents were assisting police with inquiries.
“The mother of the child did retrieve this child from the water. It’s been a very traumatic experience for her, clearly,” he said.
Detectives are urging anyone who stayed at the campsite or passed through the rest area on Gympie Curra Road on Saturday morning to contact police immediately.
As the investigation continues, the community is reeling from the devastating loss of such a young life.
Image: WIN TV
