Toddler goes missing in bush near waterways- search called off...

[draco664]

...because it's getting dark.

Apparently, the police were just following procedure to suspend the search. Health and safety of the officers involved, no doubt.

Fortunately, there exist some people who put the needs of others over their own inconvenience, and about 100 locals were mobilized via social media and phone to come and continue the search - along with the one police officer with any dignity.

They found the missing kid after 1am, and after a big hug from mum (and a big warm breakfast) he was fine.

[Panacea]

Geez, what were those cops thinking?

[Andara Bledin]

This makes me wonder as to why there was a need for a rule in place to stop searches after dark.

[Kheldarson]

It seems to be in Australia; maybe there's a concern in terms of terrain or wildlife?

I'd chalk it up to possibly being uncomfortable with the area without better lighting myself.

[Aethian]

Crocs, spiders, lizards, certain ants... Areas in the bush where the ground can just swallow you up... When your talking about a country that Animal Planet makes lists of what can kill you there with a lot of them being nocturnal I can see why they have that rule in place. It could be that the local police didn't have the man/candle power to be safe. So do I blame them for stopping? No. Do I think they could have better equipment for night rescues? Hell yes.

[Ginger Tea]

The thread title read at first like they found them in a bush, but no we are on about the bush, not a very hospitable chunk of the Australian outback, but that then begs what a child was doing there in the first place, off to read the link.

Ok we are not on about the bush it seems ...
but calling it off at half 5?

[Jetfire]

Even up here, Searches are often called off when it gets dark. But that's usually because there are a number of volunteers and they want to minimize the danger. I believe the professional SAR folk will keep looking even if it is dark.

[s_stabeler]

it's more than inconveniance- it is significantly more dangerous to search at night than during the day. There was a waterway known to be nearby- what if in the dark, a searcher ended up drowning in the waterway? The first principle of rescuing somebody is to ensure you don't need rescue yourself.

[Greenday]

Ok we are not on about the bush it seems ...
but calling it off at half 5?

I don't know about England, but in the winter, it's pretty damn dark at 5:30pm.

[Andara Bledin]

Ok we are not on about the bush it seems ...
but calling it off at half 5?

It was 5:30. Sunset is at 5:00 in Australia. By 5:30, it's pretty much full dark.

There was no "getting dark" at that point. It had gotten dark.

I'm actually more upset that the parents left their toddler alone while they were busy signing paperwork and made the effort necessary in the first place.

It's also worth noting that because the police stopped looking, over 100 people showed up to search and it still took them 6 hours. There's a very, very high probability that had they kept going, the child would never have been found alive, because there is no way that the community had anything close to 100 officers to devote to the search.

[BlaqueKatt]

It was 5:30. Sunset is at 5:00 in Australia. By 5:30, it's pretty much full dark.

There was no "getting dark" at that point. It had gotten dark.

Another potential issue that no one has mentioned, in the daylight you can see footprints, bits of torn clothing, blood from scrapes, etc., once it gets dark you can't, and you're going to be destroying any trace of evidence that might be useful to the search. If the child had been grabbed and not wandered off, those 100 untrained searchers would've destroyed any and all evidence that would've led to the suspect.

[Nyoibo]

Another thing to consider, if the child is unconcious or asleep and is missed by the searchers in the dark and that area is then crossed off as searched, they're not going back there and the kid gets left behind.

[fireheart17]

Another potential issue that no one has mentioned, in the daylight you can see footprints, bits of torn clothing, blood from scrapes, etc., once it gets dark you can't, and you're going to be destroying any trace of evidence that might be useful to the search. If the child had been grabbed and not wandered off, those 100 untrained searchers would've destroyed any and all evidence that would've led to the suspect.

Torches are not a foreign concept down here y'know.

At the moment, sunset is around 5-6:30 in Aussieland because of daylight saving.

[Kheldarson]

Torches are not a foreign concept down here y'know.

At the moment, sunset is around 5-6:30 in Aussieland because of daylight saving.

Not saying they are. But the point was that without proper lighting and knowledge of what happened to the child, volunteers may have missed or destroyed crucial evidence. And you can't tell me flashlights are an effective form of lighting compared to daylight.

[Ginger Tea]

Cos it's started to get dusk late again over here, I assumed it was more the case world wide cept for Alaska and the poles, those are the only ones I associate with still being dark early (or all day).