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Toddler dies after falling off dock at Dutch Gap, while walking with dad

Posted at 7:00 PM, Aug 13, 2015
and last updated 2015-08-14 00:05:33-04

CHESTER, Va.  -- The body of a two-year-old girl was pulled from an inlet off of the James River in the Dutch Gap Preservation Area Thursday evening. Crews spent about three hours Thursday looking for the child who fell into the water from a dock. She was on the dock with her father. He jumped into the water in an effort to save his child, witnesses and Chesterfield Fire and EMS spokesman Lt. Jason Elmore said.

The girl's body was recovered at 6:06 p.m., Elmore confirmed. Her name will not be released until all her family has been notified, he said.

Crews located the young girl 15 feet from where she went into the water.

The child fell into the water around 3:45 p.m. The dive crew found her 15 feet from where she went from the dock into the murky water. The water at the end of the dock was six to eight feet deep.

Chesterfield crews put boats in the water at Henricus Park while Henrico crews went into the water at Osborne Landing.

"The area where they are searching is a five-mile loop from where we are now to the end and then back, so about two and a half miles each direction," said Charlie Grant, the Executive Director at Henricus Park.  "It is heavily wooded; there are a series of ponds, inlets and areas that are rather secluded."

The area where crews were searching.

Grant said that he was alerted to the scene at 4 p.m., when he saw first responders on the property.

The police will take over and conduct a death investigation.

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