{"id":826993,"date":"2026-07-27T13:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826993\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T13:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:22:11","slug":"port-macdonnell-deaths-mother-toddler-found-dead-in-waters-near-victorian-south-australian-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/826993\/","title":{"rendered":"Port Macdonnell deaths: Mother, toddler found dead in waters near Victorian-South Australian border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Isabel McMillan\" data-testid=\"author-avatar-image\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4798354ec8b3dcd6d68086a830301af7f32ad566fd0f19acdeda86a7b5f15020.png\"  width=\"64\" class=\"sc-9a01536c-0 libeSR\"\/>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>The bodies of a woman and young child have been pulled from the ocean near the border of Victoria and South Australia, as authorities work to find a missing baby.<\/p>\n<p>South Australia Police on Monday evening said officers were called to an area west of Port Macdonnell \u2013 about 27 kilometres south of Mount Gambier \u2013 after reports a vehicle had been found empty with its engine still running.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring subsequent enquiries, police tragically located two bodies in the ocean,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe body of a woman and a toddler have been recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Police confirmed the woman had been identified as a 36-year-old from nearby Compton, and the toddler was her child.<\/p>\n<p>The search for a second child continues, with police holding grave concerns for the infant.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to media late on Monday, Superintendent Trent Cox, officer in charge of the Limestone Police, said the missing child was younger than a year old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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\u2019s open to speculation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe child is less than one year old. In any conditions, that would cause great concern about the child\u2019s ability to survive [even] if not in the water. We\u2019re keeping an open mind about everything, but I don\u2019t hold out great hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said multiple agencies who had been assisting in the search, including SES and CFS volunteers with thermal imaging drones, would return at first light on Tuesday to continue looking for the infant, both on land and at sea.<\/p>\n<p>Police are asking anyone who may have seen a white Isuzu MU-X, SA Registration S592BJR to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Cox urged those with information to come forward, so officers could piece together the woman\u2019s movements before the bodies were discovered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to build a picture of the woman\u2019s movement leading up to her arriving at Cape Northumberland,\u201d he said, noting the waters below the cliffs were treacherous and not easily accessible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what the family are going through. It\u2019s tragic for them, it\u2019s an awful thing for emergency services and the community to have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A search near Port Macdonnell on South Australia\u2019s southeast coast.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/13744b1a3a96d28d501e038baaa08ce892c220bc.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>A search near Port Macdonnell on South Australia\u2019s southeast coast.9News<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who may have captured the vehicle on dashcam footage is also urged to contact police.<\/p>\n<p>Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/newsletter-signup?newsletter=am&amp;utm_source=EditorialArticle&amp;utm_medium=ArticleText&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-826993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}