UPDATE: Police divers join search for missing toddler on crocodile-infested property

The hunt has intensified

June 05 2019

UPDATE:

Police divers have joined the search for a toddler missing on a sprawling, isolated, crocodile-infested property in far north Queensland, 7News reports.

The search for two-year-old Ruben, missing since Tuesday night on the 170,000-hectare Koolatah Station, resumed at first light on Thursday.

Emergency crews, cattle station crews and graziers with private helicopters spent Wednesday searching for the boy on the station, 270km north of Karumba on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.

But they were forced to suspend the rescue operation at dusk, having failed to find any sign of the little boy in the dense scrub and rugged terrain.

The Koolatah Station homestead backs onto a lagoon and, in addition to two private helicopters and two drones, police divers have now joined the search.


EARLIER:


The search for a two-year-old boy, missing at a rural cattle station in far north Queensland, has intensified.

It is understood the boy, Ruben, was last seen playing in the garage near the station's homestead at Maramie, with his little black puppy about 5.45pm.

He hasn’t been seen since and police have now stepped up the search for him.

"Ruben is a very fun and outgoing little boy with a very sarcastic sense of humour," his mother told 7NEWS.

 

Photos supplied to 7news.com.au

Photos supplied to 7news.com.au

 

"He’s very gentle and always loves to do hands-on things. He loves his cars, trucks and anything with wheels on them."

he rural property is said to be isolated and about 100km east of Kowanyama, on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula.

Family and station employees failed to find the boy and notified police, who searched throughout the night.

State Emergency Service crews and local residents with helicopters joined the search at first light on Wednesday.

The search continues...

For more on this story head to 7news.com.au