Lucas Dobson: Hundreds of locals join search for six-year-old who fell into river in Kent

Hundreds of locals have joined the search for a missing six-year-old boy who fell into a river during a family fishing trip.

Lucas Dobson fell into the River Stour in Sandwich, Kent, on Saturday afternoon.

The boy's father reportedly dived into the river but was unable to reach him.

Specialist diving teams and emergency services are hunting for the young boy.

They are being supported by a large group of volunteers, who gathered at an emergency services briefing at around 9.45am, before heading out on the search.

Many of the volunteers could be seen walking down the banks of the river and around the wider search area, with one man carrying a pair of binoculars.

At points along the River Stour, which is visibly fast flowing, search and rescue specialists could be seen probing the riverbank and water - with a number of boats tied up near where Lucas fell in.

Officers on board a Kent Police search boat, which was carrying sonar equipment, also tracked up and down the winding, muddy water as the search continued.

Superintendent Amanda Tillotson of Kent Police said more than 100 members of the emergency services and some 200 volunteers have been taking part in what she said is a "massive operation".

"Firstly, I'd like to say that my thoughts go out to the family of Lucas, this is an awful, tragic incident that obviously we will work hard to bring a quick resolution and find Lucas as quickly as we can for the family," she said.

She said the water in the river can flow quite quickly, adding that they are doing everything possible to establish exactly what happened, but that the priority is to find the missing boy.

Praising the response from the local community, she added: "I've just come from speaking to the family myself, and they wish to pass on their absolute gratitude for everybody, and they're overwhelmed at the amount of people that have come out to help and search for Lucas.

"I would like to thank those members of the public who are helping to search for Lucas but would reiterate my advice to them to please stay away from the water for their own safety."

Ms Tillotson said the search will continue until they find Lucas, and that they have done "everything we possibly can to exploit all the search parameters".

She said there are dive units still searching the river area, along with specialists from other agencies, and that the current focus of efforts is centred on near to where the incident happened.

Asked how likely a positive outcome is, she said: "Obviously as time has gone on now I think it is unlikely, unfortunately.

"But, we will continue to search and obviously I would like to have a positive outcome, I would like to find Lucas, we are getting increasingly concerned with the amount of time that is going on now.

"But it is really important that we continue to search for Lucas and continue to do that for the family, and my heart goes out to them, it really does."

A number of different waterways, including the main river, make up the search area.

Lucas's aunt Maciee Stanford, 18, told the MirrorOnline: "He was with his dad and his dad's friends along with other children."

The incident happened because our Lucas was on the jetty and tried to step from there onto the boat but he fell in between the jetty and the boat (small gap).

"As soon as he fell the three adults jumped in after but the current was too strong, he had already gone in the short amount of time he could not be found.

"They fish and do this regularly as it is behind one of the men's houses, all the children play together here."