Florida authorities kill 5 alligators in Disney lagoon, find body of 2-year-old boy intact

The alligator that grabbed a two-year-old boy in Disney Florida on Tuesday night only drowned the child but did not eat him. Florida authorities found intact on Wednesday afternoon the body of the victim.

The New York Post reports that the body of Lane Graves was found at around 3:30 pm by a dive team not far from the artificial Seven Seas Lagoon of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. The corpse was brought to the Orange County Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy and to formally identify the victim.

It took the 50-person search party 10 hours to locate the body of Lane, using an alligator tracker, sonar, marine units and helicopters, reports The Mirror. During the search, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it euthanised five alligators in the lagoon. However, they are unsure if one of the dead alligators was the boy’s attacker or it is still roaming around the resort, waiting to grab another victim.

Hotel guests were watching the movie “Zootopia” near the beach when the reptile, estimated to be four to seven feet long, attacked and grabbed Lane. Although Matt Graves, the boy’s father, tried to wrestle his son from the gator’s mouth, he failed.

Jerry Demings, sheriff of Orange County, says they will go through the formality of identifying the victim. “But there is no reason for us to believe that the body that was recovered is not Lane Graves,” he says.

Meanwhile, following the recovery of the body, commentators are blaming Disney for Lane’s death. New York Daily News columnist Shaun King, whose family has been to Disney Florida, notes that while the resort has a lot of signs that read “Don’t play in the water,” he points out the lack of a warning that alligators lurk in the lagoon.

VIDEO: Missing 2-year-old boy snatched by alligator in Disney World found dead