After a 24-hour effort involving dive teams, helicopters and boats, the search for a 6-year-old boy who fell into the Housatonic River from the Birdseye Boat Ramp has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

Rescue crews say the boy was with his mother at the dock Wednesday afternoon when he fell into the fast-moving river and was quickly swept away.

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“We are fathers. This is a very difficult day, and our hearts go out to this community, to this family,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said during a Thursday news conference.

Stratford Fire Chief Jermaine Atkinson said the river's swift current and murky water made rescue efforts especially challenging.

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