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The parents of a two-year-old boy tried desperately to pull their son from the jaws of an alligator that dragged him into a lagoon at a Disney hotel in Orlando, Florida.
Florida County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the toddler was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando.
Sheriff Demings said the boy and his mother were playing on the beach in about 30 centimetres of water when the animal attacked.
Child taken: An alligator seen here in a file picture. Photo: Wolter Peeters
"As they waded into the water along the lake's edge at the time, that's when the alligator struck," he said.
The boy's father tried to wrestle him from the alligator's mouth but was unsuccessful in saving him. The father received scratches to his hands.
"They were simply relaxing and wading at the water's edge. The father entered the water and tried to grab the child (but) was not successful in doing so. I'm told the mother also entered the water. So the parents diligently tried to get the child."
Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Photo: Google Earth
The parents alerted a pool lifeguard and a 911 call to police was made at about 9.16pm Tuesday (11.16 AEST Wednesday).
The family (a mother, father and three children) were on holiday from Nebraska and had been staying at the resort since June 12, when the tragedy happened. There had been a movie night and fireworks on the beach that night.
He said more than 50 officers and two marine rescue boats were searching the waters using helicopters with light beams, sonar and a dive team. But so far the child has not been found.
"We are not leaving until we recover the child.
"As a father, as a grandfather, we are going to hope for the best in these circumstances but based on my 35 years of experience, we know that we have some challenges ahead," he said.
There are no signs warning of alligators in the area, but there are notices posted against swimming in the man-made lake, reported the Orlando Sentinel.
The luxury resort is one of three hotels on the Disney monorail line.
A local reporter on the scene, Adrian Whitsett for WESH Orlando, tweeted that the alligator was reportedly around 7ft (2.1 metres) long.
Florida is believed to be home to up to 2 million alligators, the most of any US state. The average adult alligator weighs 360 kilograms and is four metres in length.
There have been two reported fatal alligator attacks in the past year, both of them in Florida.
The child's name has not been revealed.
A Disney spokeswoman said they was co-operating with police and their thoughts were with the family.
"Everyone at the Walt Disney resort is devastated by this tragic accident," she said.
It has been a tragic week in Orlando with 49 people killed and 53 more injured in a mass shooting in a gay nightclub that was the deadliest in US history.
The alligator attack comes a fortnight after Cincinnati zoo keepers shot and killed a male gorilla named Harambe to save a four-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla enclosure.
with AP