Divers found two-year-old’s body after searching a large dam near his family’s Cape York home

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The body of a toddler missing for days on a remote cattle station on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula has been found near his home.

Ruben Scott was found by divers searching a large dam near the homestead on Koolatah Station on Friday afternoon, police said.

Late on Thursday, police had sat the Scott family down and told them too much time had passed for the two-year-old to have survived.

Ruben’s heartbroken grandfather said he had one hope left after being told the beloved boy was presumed to have died alone on the remote Cape York cattle station.

“Hopefully we can find Ruben today,” Noel Scott said, holding back tears.

“We are preparing for the worst, at the moment.”

Ruben’s body was found hours later.

The two-year-old boy went missing from the property on Tuesday afternoon, sparking an urgent search to find him in 170,000 hectares of rugged terrain.

The cattle station backs onto a lagoon and the Mitchell River, east of Kowanyama, on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.

Helicopters and heat-seeking drones were used in the search, as crews scoured bushland on foot, horseback and motorbikes.

By Thursday, cape patrol inspector Mark Henderson had received advice that it was unlikely Ruben could have survived on his own.

“Paediatric experts now tell us that survivability has passed,” he said.

Divers flew in on Thursday afternoon to search waterways in the known crocodile habitat, resulting in the tragic discovery of Ruben’s body.

The toddler was last seen by his mother Natasha Scott at 5.44pm on Tuesday before he wandered away from the homestead on the vast, property on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.