FIJI – Fiji police have managed to recover the body of a three-year-old boy who was one of three young children allegedly thrown into the Labasa River by their father.

The father, who is also believed to have drowned, is yet to be located.

Earlier the The Fiji Times reported that three children were alleged to have been pushed overboard from a boat by their father following claims of a domestic dispute between the father and their mother.

Police and firefighters had been combing the river and surrounding riverbank for two children and their father who jumped into the river after pushing his children overboard first.

The eldest of the children, a 10-year-old boy, managed to save himself by clinging to the boat.

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that the body retrieved from the river yesterday morning was that of the youngest of the three siblings.

The incident is believed to have happened after 6.00pm on Monday.

The Fiji Sun newspaper spoke to supermarket employee, Jasman Singh, who said he was the first person at the scene and it was he who rescued the boy.

Singh said he had noticed a man in a boat with his three children acting very strangely.

“The man drove the boat up the river and few minutes later I saw the boat hitting first the mangroves, then floating at a distance and then hitting the river bank,” Singh said.

“I quickly ran out and came near the boat and found this boy inside the boat.

“The boy said his mother had left them and so the father had consumed alcohol and got drunk,” Singh said.

“He said his father, who is a fisherman, threw them all into the river and then he jumped into the water himself.

“The boy somehow managed to cling to the boat and got back inside while he saw the others struggling in the river.”

Singh said then he immediately contacted the police, who then started the search for those missing.

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed the search adding that a 10-year-old boy was taken in to give police details about the incident.

In an update late yesterday the Fiji Times reported that the police had recovered the body of a three-year-old boy from the Labasa river

Naisoro confirmed that it was the body of one of the two children that were reported missing with their father. The search for the father and another child continues.

Police are yet to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident. There are conflicting reports that the missing children may have been a boy and two girls. - PNC sources