The search for a two-year-old boy who fell into a river in Leicester will continue overnight as police urged the public to avoid the “dangerous” waters. People were told not to jeopardise the “very professional, very coordinated” search as specialist divers searched for the boy on Monday night, more than 24 hours after he fell into the River Soar at Aylestone Meadows nature reserve, which had flooded during recent heavy rain. The child had been with his family when he fell into the river from a towpath shortly after 5pm on Sunday evening, Leicestershire police said. A male member of the family went into the water to try to reach the toddler but was unable to save him and was taken to hospital as a “precautionary measure” on Sunday evening but had since been discharged, police said. “The child was with family members at the time that he went into the water,” said Leicestershire police assistant chief constable Michaela Kerr. “We do know that one person went into the River Soar to try to get the child but sadly at this time we have been unable to find the child.” She said she was “confident” police would find him, saying: “We are doing everything we possibly can. For the family, our commitment is absolutely to bring their little boy home.” Police appealed to anyone who spoke to officers near the scene on Monday to get back in touch. A dog walker who walked along the footpath near the Packhorse Bridge at about 5pm has also been asked to contact police. Emergency services attended the scene shortly after 5pm on Sunday and a search and rescue operation began in Aylestone Meadows, close to Marsden Lane. Police divers using night vision goggles continued to look for the boy overnight, but were unable to locate him. Talking to reporters on Monday, Kerr said: “Our priority for Leicestershire police is to make sure we find this little boy. I would like to thank members of the public for all their support yesterday, but at the same time I would like to really emphasise how dangerous this area is at the moment. “I would ask that members of the public do refrain from coming back to this location for their own safety and also because we have got a very professional, very coordinated search in place and we wouldn’t want anything to jeopardise the best opportunity we have got to find this little boy.” Heavy rain made the water particularly treacherous for search teams, said Kerr: “It is incredibly difficult because we have had significant rainfall recently … That is one of the reasons it’s so important that we don’t have any members of the public attempting the search because it does take real skill in order to do so safely.” Kerr said the search team was looking across a “really extensive area”, beginning at the location where the boy fell into the river. “I’m very reassured and very confident of the parameters that police both yesterday and overnight have put in place,” she said. Teams from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire police had joined the search, with extra resources from the Metropolitan police after a “mutual aid request”, said Kerr. Leicestershire fire and rescue services were also assisting the search, she added. A woman whose home overlooks Aylestone Meadows said flooding from the River Soar in recent weeks had left parts of the nature reserve in a treacherous state. She said a helicopter had initially flown over the area for about an hour after reports the child had gone missing and may have fallen in the river. She told reporters: “It seemed to be there for a long time hovering. It felt as if it was above my house. The lights were on and it didn’t move for about an hour or so.” The woman, who walks regularly in the area, said a nearby canal and the river sometimes “go into one” during peak flooding periods. “It’s fast flowing,” she said of current conditions. “It’s been quite bad. It’s devastating to think how they [family members] must be feeling.” People are asked to contact 999 with information quoting incident 476:180224.