Autistic boy rescued from Melbourne River, missing for two hours

A missing 9-year-old boy with autism has been rescued shivering from Melbourne’s Mulliveenon River more than two hours after he went missing.

He disappeared from the suburb of Braybrook in western Melbourne around 5:30pm on January 2nd. He was found two hours later by civilians wrestling in the river.

After a while he was “too tired to walk” that he was pulled out of the water by First Constable Jesse Kosak, “which would have been tragic” had he not been noticed by nearby residents. rice field.

“I quickly realized that not only was the child struggling in the water, but he was also having trouble communicating and not even calling out for help,” he said.

“He was shivering in the water. When we rescued him, he was too exhausted to walk.

“We were shocked when we learned that he had been reported missing in Braybrook and had managed to make his way down the river to Avondale Heights.”

The boy was rescued near Peerless Ct in Avondale Heights, about 2.5 kilometers from where he was last seen.

He was taken uphill about 1.5 kilometers to waiting paramedics.

Cossack First Class said he wanted to thank the person who called the police on the struggling boy.