A body has been found in the River Thames in the search for 11-year-old Kaliyah Coa, who entered the river in North Woolwich on 31 March, police have said.
According to the Metropolitan police, officers were alerted to a body in Maritime Quay in east London at about 9am on Sunday.
While the body is yet to be formally identified, the girl’s family have been informed of the development and are being supported by specialist officers. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this time, the force added.
Kaliyah is said to have been playing on a school inset day when she entered the water near Barge House Causeway, close to London City airport. Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the Thames and is used to transport boats.
Local residents noted that the slope appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery. They said they heard shouts and screams, while other children who were playing said a girl had disappeared in the water and they could not find her.
One woman, Kerry Benadjaoud, 62, had taken a life ring to the water but could not see Kaliyah. She later found shoes and a sock, coat and phone by the river, which she passed to police.
She said a boy at the scene told her: “The little boy turned around and said: ‘I tried to hold her hand but it slipped.’”
Emergency services launched a “large-scale response” on 31 March but it was later scaled down.
The Met released Kaliyah’s name and photograph at the start of this month.
