The body of an autistic boy who disappeared on Christmas Day has been found in a frozen pond.

Five-year-old Beau Belson vanished in his pyjamas while playing with family members.

It lead to a desperate search involving around 1,000 people near his grandmother's home in Six Lakes, Michigan, USA.

Police announced the devastating news on Thursday after the boy's remains were found under the ice over the pond.

Beau is understood to have been on the autistic spectrum but able to communicate, reports the Metro .

Officers investigating the death are not treating it as suspicious and are working on the assumption the tragic youngster simply fell into the water and drowned.

The local temperature at the time was around -1C

• 
  Mother 'threw' screaming kids off multi storey then killed herself on Christmas Day

• 
  Thug doused girlfriend in bleach and set flat on fire during 'hostage' ordeal

“Unfortunately, he was found in a pond, and he's no longer with us,” state police First Lt. Kevin Sweeney said, reports USA Today . “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”

State police Lt David Cope said regardless of age "you don't want them being alone in the wilderness for several hours", especially in minus temperatures.

The area, which sits 56 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, contains substantial lakes and ponds and the police had initially discouraged volunteers from joining the search effort due to safety fears.

But with the hunt for Beau intensifying they U-turned and invited anyone who was willing to help to join law enforcement officials and professional rescuers.

A Michigan State Police helicopter, drones and an underwater sonar unit were used in the search.

The little boy's relatives had only realised he was missing when they went back into the house and saw he wasn't there.

He was wearing a jacket, boots and dinosaur pyjamas before he disappeared.

“Of course, temperatures did dip down close to freezing last night,” Lt Cope said.

“Any person, regardless of age, you don’t want them being alone in the wilderness for several hours at a time, especially in the 30-degree weather range.”

Source: Read Full Article