A five-year-old boy who was swept more than four miles down a river in Northern Ireland before being rescued has died in hospital.
A major search was launched on Saturday after the child fell into the Braid River near Skye Park in Ballymena, County Antrim, at about 1pm.
He was dragged out more than 45 minutes later near Tullaghgarley and immediately airlifted to hospital, the Community Rescue Service said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said he died in hospital following the rescue.
Sean McCarry, regional commander of the organisation, said teams had worked closely with the police, fire service and air ambulance during the multi-agency response after the boy entered the river near the Ecos Centre.
McCarry said: “He got swept away quite fast with it, he was travelling quite a distance.
“He was doing a mile in under 15 minutes.”
McCarry said rescuers were “running desperately” after the boy, while a police helicopter observed from above and reported any sightings.
“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,” he said.
“Eventually that happened and he was pulled out of the river and put into the air ambulance.”
The child spent more than 45 minutes in the water and travelled a minimum of four miles down the river, police said.
Inspector Shaf Ali of the PSNI said: “I would like to thank everyone involved in the search effort and extend my sincerest condolences to the family at this time.”