"He just melted your heart"-parents of boy who died after falling into river

Q Radio News

The parents of a young boy who died after he fell into a river in Ballymena have said he was "your average wee boy" who "just melted your heart."

Five-year-old Kayden Fleck was swept by the Braid for around five miles after entering the water yesterday morning.

Paramedics say he was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, following a major search operation.

Sean McCarry is the Regional Commander for the Community Rescue Service.

He's told Q Radio the boy was carried some distance in the swollen river before he was rescued.

Kayden with twin brother, Jayden.

He said teams had worked closely with the police, fire service and air ambulance during the multi-agency response.

He said: "He got swept away quite fast with it, he was travelling quite a distance.

"He was doing a mile in under 15 minutes."

Mr McCarry said rescuers were "running desperately" after the boy, while a police helicopter observed from above and reported any sightings.

"The police were co-coordinating and telling us where we needed to go to next and we were just trying to get ahead of him in the river," he said.

"Eventually that happened and he was pulled out of the river and put into the air ambulance."

The youngster spent more than 45 minutes in the water and travelled a minimum of four miles down the river, Mr McCarry said.

Inspector Shaf Ali of the PSNI said: "I would like to thank everyone involved in the search effort and extend my sincerest condolences to the family at this time."