(Scroll to the bottom for the latest updates)
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that according to the Orange County Sheriff’s office, a two-year old child was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon by an alligator near Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
The incident occurred around 9:30 pm local time.
Helicopters and other equipment is being used to locate the child.
No further details are available at this time.
UPDATE: Twitter user @Menardness posted pictures of the scene.
UPDATE 2: According to a WESH report, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission witnesses say the gator was 7 feet long. However, this is unconfirmed at this time.
UPDATE 3:
Orange County Sheriff’s Office has released a media statement:
At 9:21 p.m.’ the Orange Country Sheriff’s Office received a call from (The Grand Floridian) in reference to an emergency. Florida Fish and Wildlife, Reedy Creek Fire Rescue, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a search and recovery operation of a two-year-old child.
A press conference will take place at 12:45 a.m. at Shades of Green.
UPDATE 4:
We have embedded live coverage of the Orange County Sherrif’s Office press briefing.
UPDATE 5:
As is common at Disney resorts, the Grand Floridian was hosting a movie night and was showing Zootopia on the beach near where the incident reportedly took place.
UPDATE 6:
Here is some things that we learned from the press conference:
- 50 law enforcement personnel are involved in the search for the two-year-old boy including two marine units. The dive team is on standby and sonar equipment is being used.
- The family affected included a mother, father, and three children and they arrived at the Grand Floridian on June 12th.
- The boy was wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon at the time of the incident.
- The father tried to grab the child from the alligator and had some scratches. The mother may have entered the water as well to try and rescue the child.
- Chief Demings says “We’re not leaving until we recover the child.”
- They currently don’t have any security footage of the incident.
- Sheriff Chief Demings says that Disney is cooperating with the investigation and that their priority is recovering the child.
A Disney spokeswoman gave the following statement at the press briefing:
Everyone here at the Walt Disney World Resort is devastated by this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with the family. We are helping the family and doing everything we can to assist law enforcement.
UPDATE 708am ET:
It is reported that 4 alligators have been recovered from the Seven Seas Lagoon but none of them have any evidence regarding the lost child.
UPDATE 6/15 11:47am ET:
Out of an abundence of caution, Disney has closed all resort beaches. In addition, all watercraft service on the Seven Seas Lagoon has been suspended. Additional bus service has been added to supplement monorail service between the TTC and the Magic Kingdom.
UPDATE 6/15 12:17pm ET:
Notes from the press conference:
There’s no question this family will lose their child. They are working on recovering the body. More than 50 OC Sheriff personnel are working on the recovery effort. The FWC is also working. Governor Rick Scott has called. Various Disney executives have called. Disney is doing everything they can to make the family comfortable during this ordeal. Divers have been in the water and will go back when appropriate. Sonar is being used. No real update on what’s found but doing everything they can to help this family find closure.
Answers from questions:
Disney has operated here for 45 years and nothing like this has ever happened before. Disney has a wildlife management system and work to make sure guests are not unduly exposed to wildlife in the area. Disney has closed all other beaches, 9 in all. Done in an abundance of caution. There is signage that says no swimming. They are committed to continuing the search until they find the body. It is not feasible to have fencing or anything like that to prevent alligators migrating to the area. They’ve found a total of 5 gators thus far but no sign of involvement with the child.
UPDATE: 6/15 12:45pm ET:
Here’s one of the standard no swimming signs from around the Seven Seas Lagoon (picture taken prior to last night’s incident). This one as at the nearby Polynesian Resort:
It reads:
Aloha
The Beach is Closed
NO SWIMMING ALLOWED
Mahalo
Aloha
Please Do Not Feed the Birds
Feeding Changes Their Natural Behavior And May Be Harmful To Their Health
Mahalo
UPDATE 6/15: 11:21a ET
The Orlando Sentinel has the first interview with a witness of the attack. The following is from Bill Wilson of New Harmony, Indiana who was sitting on his balcony at the Grand Floridian:
“I looked over and here comes one of the lifeguards. He said ‘Everybody get out of the water. The mother was there and she was frantic, running up and down looking.” Everything unfolded in less than 30 seconds, he said. A minute later, the alligator was gone. Wilson said he had seen the group walking near the water’s edge and noted it was very dark at that site. They weren’t standing under a light, he said. Wilson said response was quick from Disney personnel and first responders. He saw helicopters, fire department members, lifeguards, pontoon boats at work. “Disney did every damn thing they could do to help,” he said. Hotel guests were not notified of the situation Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, he said.
UPDATE 6/15 3:07 ET:
The Mirror has an interview with a family that claims they were chased by a gator on this same beach back in April:
“We visited the Disney Polynesian resort because we were told you can get a great view of the Magic Kingdom from the beach,” said the litigation executive.
“My wife, our two children and I were sitting on the edge of the beach on the walkway kerb to watch the show. My daughter said, ‘What’s that noise?’.”
Carl said the youngster, who was playing in the sand next to them, told her mum, ‘there’s something in the water’, but they initially dismissed her fears.
“It sounded like a jet ski in the water,” said the dad-of-two, describing how there was a sign telling tourists not to swim in the lagoon, but no warning about alligators.
“We sat there for a while longer and dismissed her concern. The next thing, a Canadian family sitting a little way up ran over and shouted, ‘Alligator!’.
“It was directly in front of us, around 40 feet away. It lurched out of the water and we had to run. It was pitch black with no lighting on the actual beach section.
“Our daughter was screaming, she was petrified.”
He added: “[The alligator] was quite big, at least four-foot-long. It’s quite scary to think that anyone with a driving licence can pull up to the resort.”
Carl said the gator finally ‘slipped back into the water’ as he and his family sprinted away from the lagoon, also overlooked by Disney’s five-star Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
They go on to say the gator was at least 4 feet long and they notified a Disney security guard on a golf cart about the incident. The incident is said to have occurred on April 5th of this year after the 10p fireworks.
UPDATE 6/15 3:36pm ET:
WFTV asked Disney about the signage and received the following response:
Disney official confirms the park does not have signage warning its guests of alligators in the water. Disney official said in a statement regarding those signs: “We will thoroughly review the situation for the future.”
Apparently, there was also an alligator attack in 1986 as reported by Associated Press:
In alligator was killed after attacking and slightly injuring an 8-year-old boy at a Walt Disney World campground.
Paul Richard Santamaria of Bristol, N.H., was not seriously injured but was terrified, said his mother, Roberta Santamaria.
Pediatric surgeon Clinton Cavett said the alligator inflicted ”four or five superficial lacerations” on the boy’s thigh, knee and lower left leg, which did not require surgery.
”It was frightening, but he is in good condition and we’re very fortunate it wasn’t worse,” Mrs. Santamaria said Sunday night from her son’s hospital room at the Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Paul was playing with his brother, sister and another companion Friday when he wandered 30 yards away to watch ducks waddling out of a small pond where several canals end, his mother said.
”He squatted on the edge of the pond or a canal among the ducks,” said Lt. Vinard Hitt of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. ”The gator came out of the water at that point and bit him on the left leg.”
The 7-foot, 4-inch long female alligator later was shot and buried by game commission agents, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
UPDATE 6/15: 3:56pm ET
CNN is reporting a body has been recovered.
UPDATE 6/15: 4:00pm ET
A news conference with the latest updates will be starting shortly:
UPDATE 6/15 4:38p ET
Notes from the news conference:
At about 1:25p members of the dive team located what is believed to be the remains of the child. At 3:30p the remains were recovered and turned over to the medical examiner. The parents are Matt and Melissa Graves from Elkhorn, NE. The child is Lane Graves. The body was completely intact.
Though there is some closure, investigation is on going. Want to make certain they have the alligator involved and remove from the lake. They are unsure if one they’ve already captured is the one. Will continue to work with Disney to address alligators on the property.
The family delivered a message that included appreciation for all of the prayers and they will now move on to a proper burial.
Notes from questions:
They will look at the 5 gators already taken and compare things like bite marks. They feel there is a good chance they already have the alligator. If they can’t get a certain match, they will continue to look for additional gators. The child was located within the immediate area where last seen. Likely no question the death was from drowning.
Family was told by the Sheriff and a Catholic priest. Family was distraught but also somewhat relieved that the body was located and found intact.
The child was 10-15 yards out from the shore. Approximately 6 feet of water.
UPDATE 6/15 5:15pm ET:
George Kalogridis, the President of Walt Disney World, has just released the following statement:
There are no words to convey the profound sorrow we feel for the family and their unimaginable loss. We are devastated and heartbroken by this tragic accident and are doing what we can to help the family during this difficult time. On behalf of everyone at Disney, we offer our deepest sympathies.
UPDATE 6/15 5:27pm ET:
An interesting aside … swimming was permitted in Seven Seas Lagoon until 1997. And among the water sports that take place in the attached Bay Lake are Jet Skiing and water skiing. Sammy Duvall, which runs all the water sports at Walt Disney World, tweeted this morning that all water sports were suspended for the day.
UPDATE 6/15 8:06pm ET:
The following statement is from Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company:
As a parent and a grandparent, my heart goes out to the Graves family during this time of devastating loss. My thoughts and prayers are with them, and I know everyone at Disney joins me in offering our deepest sympathies.
CNN has also reported Iger, who is in China for the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, has spoken with the family.
UPDATE 6/15 11:38pm ET:
CNN is also reporting that Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis took the first available flight from Shanghai, where he was participating in the festivities of the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, to Orlando after learning of the gator attack.
UPDATE 6/16 12:33pm ET
The beaches at Walt Disney World remain closed today though the ferry between the Magic Kingdom and TTC is running. Sammy Duvall also has tweeted all water sport rentals remain closed.
UPDATE 6/16 2:45pm ET
The Vice President of Walt Disney World, Jacquee Wahler:
All of our beaches are currently closed, and we are conducting a swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols. This includes the number, placement and wording of our signage and warnings.
Is has also been reported a 6th gator has been captured as they continue to find the gator that attacked the child. They have not yet determined if they’ve already captured it.
UPDATE 6/16 4:42pm ET
The cause of death has been released. According to the Medical Examiner’s Office, an autopsy revealed that Lane Graves died as a result of drowning and traumatic injuries.
UPDATE 6/16 5:04pm ET
The Orlando Sentinel has confirmed that Disney will be adding signs warning guests of alligators as a reaction to Tuesday’s incident.
UPDATE 6/17 12:43am ET
The Graves family has issued a statement:
Words cannot describe the shock and grief our family is experiencing over the loss of our son. We are devastated and ask for privacy during this extremely difficult time. To all of the local authorities and staff who worked tirelessly these past 24 hours, we express our deepest gratitude.
UPDATE 6/17 4:09p ET
WFTV.com is reporting a fence is going up around the Seven Seas Lagoon near the Grand Floridian. At this point, I don’t believe it’s clear how far the fence will extend.
UPDATE 6/22/2016 5:05pm ET
WFTV is reporting Disney has stopped trapping gators at the Seven Seas Lagoon. A total of six gators were trapped and they are confident they have removed the gator that attacked the child. “This conclusion is based on expert analysis and observations by staff with extensive experience in investigating fatal alligator bite incidents.”