Superintendent Trent Cox said expert assessments suggested it was now “very, very unlikely” the missing infant had survived, 7News reported.
South Australian authorities have resumed the search for Helena Wright’s missing 3-month-old son after Wright and her 23-month-old daughter were found dead in waters off Cape Northumberland. Photo / Google Maps
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said authorities were determined to exhaust every avenue in the search, while acknowledging the chances of finding the infant alive were slim.
“Sadly today we have not been able to locate the boy but we will resume the search tomorrow in the morning,” he said yesterday.
“The conditions out there … were extremely challenging.”
Stevens also spoke to the “tragic set of circumstances” and their impact on the remaining family.
“This is an extremely challenging time for the family of the deceased people that we have found,” he said.
Police said they have spoken to the husband of the deceased woman.
Originally from Estonia, Wright lived in Compton, near Mount Gambier, with her husband and their two children, the ABC reported.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said it was a blow that “shocked you to the core”, Nine News reported.
“Wherever we see the loss of anybody, it’s a tragedy. Where it involves children, that breaks your heart,” he said.
Local mayor Kylie Boston said everybody is stunned “because you hope these things don’t ever happen”.
Superintendent Cox said police knew the 3-month-old baby had been with his mother earlier on Monday, but it remained unclear whether he went into the water with the mother, according to Nine News.
“The 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’s open to speculation,” he said.
He said police were “keeping an open mind about everything”, but they did not “hold out great hope” for the infant.
“The child is less than 1 year old,” he said.
“In any conditions, that would cause great concern about the child’s ability to survive, if not in the water.”