The tragic incident occurred on Saturday afternoon.
At around 1pm, a major search was launched after it was reported that the child fell into the Braid River near Skye Park in Ballymena in County Antrim.
The boy was spent along for over four miles in the fast-moving river before he was pulled out near Tullaghgarley in County Antrim, approximately 45 minutes after first falling in.
According to RTE News, the boy was immediately air-lifted from the scene, but the PSNI reported that he died in the hospital.
Sean McCarry, regional commander of the Community Rescue Service, told RTE that “He got swept away quite fast with it, he was travelling quite a distance. […] The police were co-coordinating and telling us where we needed to go to next and we were just trying to get ahead of him in the river.”
“Eventually that happened and he was pulled out of the river and put into the air ambulance.”
Inspector Shaf Ali of the PSNI stated the following: “I would like to thank everyone involved in the search effort and extend my sincerest condolences to the family at this time.”
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