- The Maine Warden Service Dive Team boat returns to the boat ramp in Lewiston after searching for the 5-year-old boy on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Firefighters from Greene search for the missing 5-year-old boy in the Androscoggin River between Lewiston and Auburn on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Lewiston firefighter Rob Gayton scans the Androscoggin river for the missing 5-year-old boy on Wednesday. Despite recovery efforts being handled by the Maine Warden Service, firefighters, police officers and members of the public could be found up and down both sides of the river looking for the missing boy. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- The Maine Warden Service use their boat to pick up two divers in the Androscoggin River on Wednesday. The divers searched for the missing 5-year-old boy. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Rescue personnel work with firefighters on shore after the rescue boat from the Poland Fire Rescue Department sunk in the rapids along Riverside Drive while assisting in the search effort for the missing 5-year-old boy in Auburn on Wednesday. The “AIR Responder” is a snowmobile nested in a boat hull. A crane was called in to assist in the recovery of the boat. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Auburn Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen speaks with news media across the street from the recovery effort command post at the Rollodrome in Auburn on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- The Maine Warden Service Dive Team searches the Androscoggin River as Lewiston Police Detectives Ryan Rawstron and Dave Levesque search the Lewiston shoreline for the missing 5-year-old boy on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- A Maine Warden Service airboat pulls away from the Durham Boat Launch while searching for the missing 5-year-old boy on the Androscoggin River on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- “I thought I would put an extra pair of eyes on the river,” Roger Roy said as he looked along the Androscoggin River in Lewiston for the missing 5-year-old boy on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Rescue personnel from the Maine Warden Service, left, Auburn Fire Department and the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department search for the missing 5-year-old boy in the Androscoggin River between Lewiston and Auburn on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Det. Ryan Rawstron of the Lewiston Police Department searches the Lewiston shoreline of the Androscoggin River for the missing 5-year-old boy on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)
- Bobby Sue Labonte, of Auburn, looks down the Androscoggin River between Lewiston and Auburn on the walking trestle with her son Wednesday morning. “I have a 5 & 9-year-old myself and feel sick over what has happened. I wonder if they go to the same school as my kids?” said Labonte. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
- A Maine Warden Service Plane circles above the Androscoggin River between Auburn and Durham in search of a 5 year old who was swept down the river last night. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
- A Maine Warden Service Plane circles above the Androscoggin River between Auburn and Durham in search of a 5 year old who was swept down the river last night. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
AUBURN — A day after two boys tumbled into the frigid, fast-moving Androscoggin River, the 5-year-old remained missing and his 9-year-old brother was clinging to life at a Portland hospital.
Rescuers suspended the search early Wednesday night for the younger boy, who fell into the river near Bonney Park on Tuesday night. His brother, pulled from the river by rescuers, was in critical condition at Maine Medical Center.
[MORE COVERAGE: Locals bring flowers to Bonney Park and talk about safety | Rescuers pull boy, 9, from Androscoggin River in Auburn]
The daylong search efforts along the banks of the river ended at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen.
When the search resumes Thursday morning, Moen said, it will involve dive teams and, if weather allows, aircraft.
Rescue crews on both sides of the river had searched the 2-mile stretch between Bonney Park and Durham, according to Moen. Air searches began early Wednesday but were suspended because of deteriorating weather conditions later in the morning.
The boy’s family was with the 9-year-old Wednesday at the Portland hospital, Moen said. The family lives at a home on Main Street in Auburn. Officials declined to release their names while the search continues.
Bonney Park is between Main Street and the river.
The two brothers were playing near the river Tuesday when the 5-year-old fell into the water shortly after 7 p.m. His brother tried to rescue him, but also fell in, police said. Their 8-year-old sister and father also went into the water but could not reach the two brothers.
The father and daughter got back on shore and were not injured, Moen said.
The 9-year-old was pulled out of the river by firefighters at about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday. He was brought to shore in a canoe and taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. From there, he was flown by helicopter to the Portland hospital.
The family is new to the area, police said. On Monday, they had registered the 9-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister at Sherwood Heights Elementary School, according to Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin.
The children were scheduled to begin classes Wednesday, she said.
A guidance counselor from Fairview Elementary School went to Sherwood Heights on Wednesday to meet with students and staff, Grondin said.
“We are prepared for the family if they need our support when they come back to school,” Grondin said.
Local businesses were filled with talk of the incident and the missing boy Wednesday morning as people had breakfast, stopped for gas and bought lottery tickets.
“It just amazes me how it happened here,” said a man who declined to give his name but said he lives at the Roak Block on Main Street in Auburn, near Bonney Park.
A number of people said they were horrified that a 5-year-old was able to get down to the water.
“They should have already made a border so no one could get in the river,” said Charles Michaud of Auburn. “This has happened before, so obviously it’s a problem.”
His fiancee agreed, saying she was dismayed that rescue workers stopped the search by 10 p.m. Tuesday.
“They should have kept going,” she said.
Moen said the search was suspended Tuesday night because it was too dark and the waters were too choppy to continue.
On Wednesday, Moen told people to stay back from the river while authorities continued the search, calling conditions “harsh.”
“River conditions are very dangerous right now,” Moen said. “This is a bad time of year to conduct any type of operation due to the high water and the current. We had one person that was doing a Facebook Live video as he was doing a search and fell in the river himself.”
Along with Auburn police, the search has included the Auburn Fire Department, Maine Warden Service, Maine Marine Patrol, Lewiston Police and Fire departments and LifeFlight medical helicopter.
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