{"id":1758,"date":"2025-03-31T15:31:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T15:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2025-04-01T23:09:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:09:38","slug":"girl-11-who-slipped-and-fell-into-river-thames-named-by-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/31\/girl-11-who-slipped-and-fell-into-river-thames-named-by-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl, 11, who slipped and fell into River Thames named by police"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"?George\t<\/div>
The girl went missing on Monday afternoon (Picture: George Cracknell Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A girl who slipped and fell into the River Thames has been named by police as Kaliyah Coa.<\/p>\n

Emergency services launched a major search operation after an 11-year-old girl entered the water close to Barge House Causeway, near London City Airport, at about 1.15pm on Monday.<\/p>\n

That search was scaled back last night, with London Ambulance Service (LAS), London Fire Brigade (LFB) and the RNLI saying crews had been stood down, but the search has resumed today with police boats patrolling the water.<\/p>\n

Kaliyah had been playing with another girl and a young boy close to the water, residents said.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Tuesday evening, Chief Superintendent Dan Card said: \u2018Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah\u2019s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are committed to finding Kaliyah and are working with partners to conduct a thorough search over a wide area \u2013 utilising drone technology and boats.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Emergency\t<\/div>
The girl fell shortly after 1pm (Picture: UKNIP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I\u2019d like to thank the members of public, our first responding officers, and colleagues from other emergency services, as they responded rapidly to carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time.<\/p>\n

\u2018Equally, we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days \u2013 if you have any concerns then please speak to them.\u2019<\/p>\n

One local told The Sun<\/a>: \u2018She was with two other kids. Obviously we were thinking, why aren\u2019t they in school? But I think a lot of schools are off for Eid.<\/p>\n

\u2018The little boy was holding her hand to help her step in the water but obviously she slipped, because it\u2019s really slippy.\u2019<\/p>\n

The neighbour added: \u2018So what we understand is the girl was playing down by the water.<\/p>\n

\u2018As soon as she fell she was gone. She just disappeared into the tide. The boy came running to one of my neighbours for help but it was too late.<\/p>\n

\u2018While the other kid \u2014 a little girl \u2014 went running to get a donut. All of us rushed out but it\u2019s freezing in there.\u2019<\/p>\n

Shaleen Rajaendram, 59, who lives on Barge House Road which leads onto the causeway, said: \u2018I heard upstairs a guy was screaming \u201cwait there, wait, the police is coming\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"??\t<\/div>
A police boat patrols the River Thames in Woolwich, east London as the search continues(Picture: Marcin Nowak\/LNP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The man was standing on a balcony in a flat block overlooking the river and later told Ms Rajaendram he had been alerted by the children \u2018shouting, screaming\u2019, she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Rajaendram continued: \u2018Then I saw suddenly two kids were coming out to the top of the bridge, I said \u201cwhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Then they said \u201cone of my friends was playing in the water, one of my friends has gone into water and she\u2019s gone underneath and we can\u2019t find her\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

The girl returned home while the boy told Ms Rajaendram where it happened.<\/p>\n

Ms Rajaendram then called her neighbour, Kerry Benadjaoud, 62, who took a life ring down to the water but could not see the girl.<\/p>\n

A man said he had called the police, Ms Benadjaoud said, adding: \u2018But he said at the time he could see her (the girl\u2019s) hands going down. So, by the time I got down there with the ring I couldn\u2019t find her.\u2019<\/p>\n

She said she found shoes, a sock, a coat and a phone near the river, and handed the items to the police.<\/p>\n

\u2018Apparently she was paddling, so her socks and shoes were off, her coat, then she must have slipped and gone down,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

Ms Benadjaoud said the boy who had been with the girl was around eight or nine years old.<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018The little boy turned around and said \u201cI tried to hold her hand but it slipped\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018I said to the little boy\u2019s parents, obviously he needs to see someone because it\u2019s going to affect him later.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Emergency\t<\/div>
Helicopters scoured the skies from above (Picture: UKNIP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats, and residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and is slippery.<\/p>\n

Kaliyah\u2019s family have been made aware and are being supported by officers.<\/p>\n

LAS was called at a similar time to police after receiving a report of a person in the water at Lowestoft Mews, close to the airport.<\/p>\n

\u2018We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team,\u2019 a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our crews assisted our emergency services partners at the scene but were later stood down.\u2019<\/p>\n

LFB deputy assistant commissioner Joseph Kenny said: \u2018Firefighters responded to reports of a person in the River Thames near Lowestoft Mews, Newham.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"?George\t<\/div>
A fire boat and a boat from the RNLI search the Thames in East London (Picture: George Cracknell Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Crews from East Ham, Barking, Ilford and Bexley fire stations were sent to the scene alongside crews from the HM Coastguard, RNLI, London Ambulance Service and the Metropolitan Police Service.<\/p>\n

\u2018The brigade also deployed its drone team and fire boat as part of its response, with crews carrying out a systematic search of the area.<\/p>\n

\u2018The brigade was first called about the incident at 1.23pm. Search operations for firefighters were concluded at 3.49pm when responsibility for the incident was left with the police.\u2019<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: \u2018Tower RNLI was requested to launch this afternoon (March 31) to an incident near Woolwich.<\/p>\n

\u2018The lifeboat was later stood down.\u2019<\/p>\n

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong> Or you can submit your videos and pictures here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, check our<\/strong>\u00a0news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> for the latest news updates.<\/strong> You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here<\/a>. <\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The girl went missing on Monday afternoon (Picture: George Cracknell Wright) A girl who slipped and fell into the River Thames has been named by police as Kaliyah Coa. Emergency services launched a major search operation after an 11-year-old girl entered the water close to Barge House Causeway, near London City Airport, at about 1.15pm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}