8-year-old boy missing at sea near Maasvlakte, search continues on Sunday

An 8-year-old boy went missing in the sea near Maasvlakte on Saturday evening. According to a spokeswoman for the Rotterdam police, the chances of the boy being recovered alive from the water are very slim. “We wish the family a lot of strength,” the police wrote on X, indicating that the child had probably died.

The harbor police searched for the boy with a helicopter, a diving team, and a drone team equipped with a thermal imaging camera. However, the large-scale search was unsuccessful on Saturday evening, and the efforts to find the 8-year-old were stopped at 9 p.m., RTL Nieuws reported.

“Due to the current and the tide, it is no longer likely that the boy will be found where he was thrown into the water,” the police said. The search will continue on Sunday.

The brother of the missing boy had gone missing at the same time and in the same place but was quickly pulled out of the water alive. However, his condition remains unknown. According to RTL Nieuws, the boys were with their father on the beach of the North Sea Boulevard on the southern part of the Maasvlakte.

The Maasvlakte is an area belonging to the Rotterdam port surrounded by a large beach.