- Seven-month-old drowned at Chatsworth Park
- It’s a popular camping and stopover spot
- Fresh allegations about what happened have emerged online
A police investigation into the tragic drowning of a seven-month-old baby boy at a popular camping spot has been rocked by allegations that he was thrown into the water.
Emergency responders raced to the scene at Chatsworth Park near Gympie, Queensland at about 10.30am on Saturday following multiple triple-0 calls about a baby found unresponsive in a nearby lake.
The boy’s mother made the grim discovery and pulled him out of the water, which was just 40 metres from the campsite.
She and fellow holidaymakers performed CPR on the baby, who was rushed to Gympie Hospital, where he later died.
The baby and his parents had camped overnight at the park on their way home in North Queensland.
Police investigating the circumstances of the baby’s ‘unexplained’ death have urged anyone who was at the lake an hour before and after the tragedy to come forward.
The public appeal sparked several posts on the Queensland Police Facebook page, claiming that alleged witnesses had seen the baby thrown into the water by a man.
Police responded to the posts by urging those making the allegation to come forward contact Policelink.
A popular campsite remains a crime scene after a baby boy drowned in a lake on Saturday
The baby’s parents are assisting police with inquiries.
No arrests or charges have been laid.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Queensland Police for comment.
A section of the campsite remained cordoned off as a crime scene on Monday.
Officers from the Child Trauma Unit and the Homicide Investigation Team are assisting with the investigation.
A post-mortem has since been carried out.
Police have refused to speculate on how the baby ended up in the water.
‘We’re treating it as unexplained, that’s probably the best term I can use at this point in time,’ Wide Bay Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield told reporters on Monday.
‘We’re trying to work out the mechanisms of how that occurred.
‘We have part of the picture, we just want to complete that full picture before we decide on where that investigation leads us.’
Chatsworth Park is a popular free camping and stopover spot off the Bruce Highway.
Police are investigating the ‘unexplained’ tragedy north of Gympie
It’s also a common spot for the homeless, police confirmed.
‘We have information that other vehicles were parked up in the rest stop area,’ Insp Mansfield said.
‘They either left just prior or during – we just don’t know until we speak to them.
‘There were a couple of vehicles that left the scene who may or may not have seen or heard anything, but we just need to track them down in case they did.’
No arrests or charges have been laid.
