Australia: Children find boy's body in suitcase

Children playing in a park opened a suitcase floating in a pond to find the naked body of a child inside, police in Australia said today.

Police divers have begun scouring the pond in the Sydney suburb of Rosemeadow and interviewing witnesses in a hunt for clues to the identity of the dead boy and what happened to him.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Clark said identification of the body was made more difficult because it had been in the water for some time, but officials believed it was a boy aged between five and 10.

A forensic examination of the body will begin today.

Clark said about 10 children aged between 10 and 12 who were playing in the park yesterday spotted a black zip-up case small enough to be plane carry-on luggage floating in the pond.

They fished it out, opened it, and found the naked body, which was partly wrapped in plastic.

“We were riding on our scooters when a friend came up and said there was a dead pig down at the duck pond, so we went down to see,” one of the children, a boy, said at the scene.

“Me and my friend got sticks and flipped it over and then we saw that there was feet so we went up to our houses to call the police.”

Police were checking missing persons records as part of the search.

The park is surrounded by houses and is a spot for picnics, walking and cycling.