Last night, we told you about the mishap that befell 8-year-old Luke Hansen, a resident of Roaring Creek Village. Reports to 7news were that he went with his brother and a cousin to the river and ended up in danger of drowning when a canoe they were in capsized.
It turns out we were misinformed; the three young children went to the river for a swimming outing with an elder relative. Multiple sources at the river banks told our 7News team that they were warned to stay in the shallow parts of the river because the currents were strong. Unfortunately, one of the children reportedly led the other two to another slightly deeper part of the river that appeared to be steady. The riverbed was deceptively slippery and filled with soft mud that seemed to be solid. We are told that the children encountered what appeared to be firm footing, but the mud acted like quicksand, and they suddenly found themselves submerged.
Quick responders rescued two of the three children, but Little Luke Hansen could not be found. And now, the family is fearing the worst.
7News traveled to Roaring Creek Village today, and Daniel Ortiz has that story:
This morning on the banks of the Roaring Creek's intersection with the Belize River, we found civilians and professional search and rescue personnel engaging in day two of a search for 8-year-old Luke Hansen.
It is believed that he drowned, and although these teams would have wanted to discover him alive, they were already preparing themselves mentally for the possibility that they would only be retrieving his body.
Chief Petty Officer Edwards, OC, Dive Unit, Belize Coast Guard
"At the moment we have many persons assisting us as well, we have the coast guard, we have the civilian population in the area who know this river very well and they are giving us assistance as well. We have BSART who is search and rescue guys as well, they are helping and canvasing from Banana Bank up this way. We canvased down, we had divers in the key area where the incident occur. However with the water currents at this moment, presuming that the body has already moved, its a small person so it moves faster. As you can see the current is very strong. The water is rushing fast down stream. So, what we are doing now at this moment is just combing to see whether the body floats up."
Understandably, members of the Hansen Family were distressed about the suspected loss of a very young loved one, and so, when we attempted to approach them for accurate information and the possibility of an interview, they made it clear that they weren't interested.
But, since we were getting second and third-hand accounts with conflicting details, our news team thought it prudent to attempt to clarify with Little Luke's dad, who was part of the search team. And since they were still in operation, I tried to reach out and speak with Mr. Hansen, who was in the middle of the river. While wading through the water to make it there, Little Luke's uncle played the role of a blockade. He warned that the family had no comments to make, that if I tried to get any closer to his brother - the distressed parent - he would interpret that as an act of aggression and that he would respond accordingly.
So, with such heightened emotions of rage, grief, and uncertainty, our news team had to back down and settle for conflicting accounts from Luke's relative who brought him to the river and another Roaring Creek resident who was present when Little Luke went underwater. Both men said that they were instrumental in rescuing Luke Hansen's brother, 10-year-old Joseph Jr., and their cousin, who they know as "Melin".
Arturo Tillett, Luke Hansen's Relative
"Me and my friend, we were sitting on the bank, so the little boy told me 'uncle' and I said 'no over here is deep, why don't you go over there'. So the next boy still took those two and I said 'over there is deep, you will put me in problem'. I sat and when I looked, the young lady hailed me and said 'the little boy downed'. So, when I arrived there, I took off my pants and tries to save the two of them but couldn't the next one because I was frightened and I couldn't save them both. We dived and didn't find them, he went down and he never came back up. Yesterday it bugged me, I said 'I don't want to go to the river because something bad will happen' and they said 'take him to the river' and i said 'I don't want to go'. I watched them go and swim and from there I told them it's deep and they still insisted to go over there. I went with my friend to try and save the three of them but when I grabbed the next one and throwed them on the next side of the water, I saved two of them but I couldn't save the other. I really feel bad because I couldn't save him."
Saturino Coc, First Responder
"I was right here sitting down on this corner and my mind told me to look down the stream. When I looked down the creek, I only saw two little young boys going up and down. I told one of their family members that it looked like two of them were drowning. So, they ended up drowning from where I was, I jumped in the water and I went to save two of them. When I saved them, I didn't notice the other little one who already went before them. The other little one that was there, so in all there were 3 of them together. I didn't notice it was three of them but then the next young boy told me that another one is supposed to be right in the water. By the time I went to go down there back I couldn't reach him or see any sign of him."
All members of this joint search and rescue team are determined to locate Little Luke Hansen, and they will stay activated until they do so.
Chief Petty Officer Edwards
"Our mission is to retrieve the body so, if we have to stay here until nightfall and come back in the morning again and assist until the body is recovered, then that's what we will do. At the moment, we finished the dive part of it, but we maintained presence and combed the area and the river banks until the body floats up so we can get the forensics and everyone come do their part."
As soon as there's any news of the discovery of Luke Hansen, we'll share that information with you.
