Police have confirmed that an 11-year-old girl has died after she went missing at a UK water park.
According to a report by BBC News, emergency responders were first called to the lake at Liquid Leisure Windsor in Datchet, England, at around 3:55PM local time on Saturday, August 6.
The child had reportedly gotten into difficulty, with emergency services taking more than an hour trying to locate her. When they did, she was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.
Sadly, the young girl passed away shortly after.
Thames Valley Police told BBC News that the death is being treated as unexplained and that an investigation into the incident has already been launched.
"This has been an extremely traumatic and upsetting incident for all involved," said Superintendent Michael Greenwood.
He went on to thank members of the public who assisted emergency services in the hunt for the girl, saying: "I would like to commend them for their courage and bravery."
Supt Greenwood went on to offer his "sincere condolences" to the girl's family and asked that their privacy be "respected".
"We are in the early stages of investigating this incident to understand the full circumstances," he added.
A mother-of-two who witnessed the incident unfold described how the lifeguard and friends of the girl's family began running along the lake shore calling for her.
"They were asking all of us to shout her name, describing her as shoulder height on an adult, with shoulder-length brown hair," she recalled.
"I later learned that they were hoping she'd somehow managed to make it back to the shoreline and was in shock or passed out," the witness added.
When it became apparent the girl was not on the shore, the woman recalled how between 30 and 40 people jumped into the water to begin searching for her before emergency services arrived.
"With every minute that passed by you could see the rising panic amongst the onlookers," she described.
Though it is unclear where exactly the child was found, Fire and Rescue services, ambulance services, and The National Police Air Service were all reportedly involved in the search.
In a Facebook post, the waterpark announced that they would be closed on Sunday (August 7) following "a very unfortunate and tragic incident."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and all those affected by this desperately tragic and upsetting incident," the park added.
