An American family’s Disney vacation turned into a nightmare when an alligator snatched a two-year-old boy at the shore of a resort lake and fought off the father’s frantic attempts to wrest the toddler from its mouth, officials said Wednesday. A search and rescue operation was launched after the attack Tuesday night at the Grand Floridian hotel not far from the Magic Kingdom was ongoing, but police said they held out little hope the boy would be found alive.
/ AFP PHOTO /
ORLANDO, United States (AFP) — Florida’s Walt Disney World plans to put up signs warning of the danger of alligators following the death of a toddler snatched from the shore of a resort lake, US media reported.
Disney is “conducting a swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols. This includes the number, placement and wording of our signage and warnings,” spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler told reporters Thursday.
The signs will explicitly warn of the danger of alligators, the Orlando Sentinel and other US media said, citing unnamed sources “with knowledge of the situation.”
There was a no swimming sign at the lakeside beach at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa where the two-year-old boy and his family were staying.
However there were no signs warning about alligators.
The animals are found in large bodies of fresh water across Florida, but they rarely attack humans.
The toddler’s father tried frantically to save the child when an alligator snatched him late Tuesday, but could not pry the kid from the animal’s jaws.
Divers found the boy’s body Wednesday in murky water about six feet (1.8 meters) deep just 10 or 15 yards (meters) from where he was taken.
Disney shut down all of its Florida resort beaches and marinas out of precaution after the incident.
The Grand Floridian is part of the massive Disney resort complex that includes several theme parks, water parks, hotels and golf courses.
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