Coastguards are searching for a baby in Belfast harbour.

[oisinog]

Coastguards are searching for a baby in Belfast harbour.

The child and a woman went into the water from a ferry this evening. The woman has been rescued.

Lifeboats and helicopters are involved in the search operation.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland ambulance service said they treated the casualty.

"She had been in the water for a while so you can understand that with the coldness of the water she would have been hypothermic," he said.

She is being cared for in hospital.

Sources suggested the baby is just days old.

It is believed the infant and woman fell from a Stena ferry in Belfast Lough, close to Holywood, Co Down.

Prayers are need that this child is found

[Rois]

So sad, the wee helpless dote.

[orangeman]

Awful altogether.

[Tony Baloney]

Terribly sad story. Will be a big HSENI enquiry for that.

[EC Unique]

So sad! I have been on the HSE several times. Not the easiest yoke to fall off!

[Tony Baloney]

All sounds a wee bit suspect but we'll see. Weather today won't be helpful.

[Oldhacker]

It's a very sad story, but all the indications are that there never was a baby. The emergency services had no option other than to act on the information they were given, and it's fairly clear that the woman who was rescued from the water had issues.

[orangeman]

It's a real pity of the woman.

A search of Belfast Lough is continuing after reports that a baby fell overboard from a ferry - however authorities now say they are not in a position to confirm that a child is missingThe woman was rescued from the water shortly after the alarm was raised. She is now in a stable condition at the Royal Victoria Hospital..

A major search operation continued this morning for the missing baby.

As yet there has been no sign of the child and police now say they  are unable to confirm that a child is missing.

The search of a section of Belfast Lough is ongoing

[EC Unique]

Those boats are full of CCTV so should not be hard to confirm. Fingers crossed there was no child.

[haranguerer]

Fingers crossed that stupid bitch faces some consequences if this is true

[brokencrossbar1]

Fingers crossed that stupid bitch faces some consequences if this is true

Very callous haranguerer, they girl has obviously got mental problems.  How do you know she hasn't recentlyt lost a child and was delusional with grief.  We don't know sort of the circumstances but this sort of shite is one of the reasons why Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates among young people in the world.   

[EC Unique]

Coast guard search has been stood down. Must have been no child

[oisinog]

Coast guard search has been stood down. Must have been no child

After 18 hours it becomes a body recovery exercise and this is then handed over to the PSNI

[haranguerer]

Fingers crossed that stupid bitch faces some consequences if this is true

Very callous haranguerer, they girl has obviously got mental problems.  How do you know she hasn't recently lost a child and was delusional with grief.  We don't know sort of the circumstances but this sort of shite is one of the reasons why Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates among young people in the world.

If she is found to have serious mental issues and is deemed not responsible for her actions, then fair enough. They would have to be quite severe for her not to understand the trouble she was going to cause, not to mention all the other lives she was endangering however, and if she is found to have minimal mental disorder (theres obv some given she jumped off a boat), then she should face some consequences.

Attitudes in Ireland to stuff like this is f**k all to do with the high suicide rate amongst young people however. If you want to see callous, try here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-suicide-as-spectator-sport-ndash-what-does-that-say-about-us-1862427.html

People encouraging others to commit suicide. Pretty widespread across the world, but I've never heard of it happening in Ireland, so its not like we 'just dont understand' like other nations.

[omagh_gael]

Too right bcb1. Really bugs me the way those with psychiatric problems are torn to shreds without a thought given to the absolute hell they could be going through personally. If it turns out this woman is unwell surely we should be thankful that a young child hasn't lost their life rather than sharpening the knives and calling for the mob.