By Emilia Randall

Copyright irishmirror

A family’s dream trip to Disney World turned into a living nightmare when their two year old toddler was snatched by an alligator, with the father desperately trying to rescue his child from its jaws.

Lane Graves’ body was retrieved from the deep waters of the lake in the supposed paradise as his terrified parents looked on, unable to fend off the seven-foot creature in 2016.

After a gruelling 16-hour search and rescue operation involving dozens of emergency personnel using sonar equipment and helicopters, divers located and recovered the body of the two year old.

“There’s no question in my mind that the child was drowned by the alligator,” Orange County sheriff Jerry Demings said at a press conference. “It was a tough message to deliver to them. The family was distraught but somewhat relieved we were able to retrieve their son with his body intact.”

The boy was taken from the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon, a man-made lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, around 9.30pm on Tuesday, 14 June. The family, from Nebraska, had been at the resort since the Sunday and were outside enjoying an evening of open-air films and firework displays, reports the Mirror.

Jeff Williamson, spokesperson for the Orange County sheriff’s office, said the family, including the boy’s four year old sister, were on the shoreline at the resort’s lake, with the toddler paddling at the water’s edge with his parents nearby.

“He was about a foot in, maybe ankle-deep or a little higher,” Williamson said. “There’s a sign there that says no swimming. There’s no indication he was doing that, but he was at the edge of the water and this freakish incident takes place in which a gator comes along and latches on to this poor child.

“The father was very close by. He heard what sounded like a splash, he turned, he thought the splash was something innocent, but of course there was nothing innocent. He saw his child in the mouth of the gator. He ran to get the child out of the gator’s mouth and wrestled with the gator but was not successful. The gator was able to get the child away from the father and disappear into the water.

“It is tragic. It is heartbreaking. There’s no other way to say it,” he said, adding that the father had sustained minor cuts to his arms, and that he believed the mother had also entered the water.

Demings said Disney officials had done “everything they can to make the family comfortable during this ordeal” and a Catholic priest was present when he broke the news to the parents.

A Disney spokeswoman confirmed the beaches at all resorts across its vast property were closing “out of an abundance of caution” until it was verified the alligator was captured.

“We are devastated by this tragic accident,” said Jacquee Wahler, director of communications for Walt Disney parks and resorts. “Our thoughts are with the family.”

Wildlife officials captured and put down five alligators from the lake during the night, yet there was no trace of the boy, according to Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC).

Wiley clarified because the boy’s body was retrieved intact and near to where he was last spotted: “There’s a good chance we already have this alligator.”

The extensive search mission involved 50 personnel, boats and helicopters from the FWC, sheriff’s office and Reedy Creek fire department, Demings stated.

Wiley noted that whilst Florida is renowned for its alligators, a family from Nebraska might not have realised the lake presented any threat.

“This hotel has never had complaints of an alligator attack, or an alligator nuisance, whatsoever,” he stated. “This beach has been there for a very long time. We’re treating this as an isolated incident.”

He indicated it wasn’t sufficiently clear there might be alligators, saying “The sign says no swimming. There’s no other sign.”

Officials confirmed it was the first alligator fatality at Disney in 45 years. “We work very closely with Disney to remove nuisance alligators as they’re observed,” Wiley stated.

“We’ve got some really good professionals out there today. They know what they’re doing.”

Alligator attacks on humans in Florida continue to be “very rare”, he stated. Wiley said: “We always caution people in Florida to be careful around water bodies, but millions of people enjoy Florida safely.

“It’s not common at all, in fact it’s very rare, for people to be attacked by alligators, in Florida or anywhere you find alligators,” he said.

“We have alligators in all freshwater across Florida. They move around.”