Search Ongoing For Missing Toddler Near Malden

ROSALIA — A search and rescue operation is underway in Whitman County for a 27-month-old toddler who disappeared from a creek bank near the town of Malden and has not been seen for several hours.

The boy’s mother and aunt were moving out of a trailer home near the creek early Thursday afternoon when they noticed the boy had gone missing. According to Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers, the boy had been going in and out of the trailer while the mom and the aunt were loading things into a truck.

One of the boy’s slippers was found on the bank of the nearby Pine Creek. The boy was last seen around 12:30.

The Spokane County Dive Team is in the water as of 5:45 p.m. assisting in the search efforts since the child disappeared from the vicinity of the creek bank.

Whitman County Sheriff’s deputies and volunteer firefighters are searching by land while Medstar has had a helicopter flying around the area assisting with the search.