Baby boy drowns in a lake – as police launch a probe into the ‘unexplained’ tragedy

Police have launched an investigation after a seven-month-old baby boy drowned in a lake at a popular camping spot near Gympie in Queensland.

Emergency responders raced to the scene at Chatsworth Park at about 10.30am on Saturday following multiple triple-0 calls about a baby found unresponsive in the water. 

The boy’s mother made the grim discovery and pulled him out of the water.

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.

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 popular campsite remains a crime scene after a baby boy drowned in a lake on Saturday

‘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. 

‘We’re trying to work out the mechanisms of how that occurred.’ 

Chatsworth Park is a popular free camping and stopover spot off the Bruce Highway.

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. 

Police are investigating the ‘unexplained’ tragedy north of Gympie