Body Of Missing Boy Washes Ashore In US

A child's body has been found washed ashore by rescuers searching for a mother and her son who vanished last weekend in Washington state.

Shantina Smiley with her son Azriel Carver. Pic: KOMO-TV

The hunt for eight-year-old Azriel Carver and his mother Shantina "Kat" Smiley, 29, from Silverdale, began when their van was discovered abandoned on a beach north-east of Boston Harbour.

Azriel's body was discovered 16 nautical miles from the van on the southern tip of Fox Island.

Jay Carver had travelled from Buffalo, New York, to help with the search for his son and his former partner.

He said he had expected to find him safe but when he found his son's body he fell to his knees and cried.

"I was just hoping to find him safe somewhere," Mr Carver said.

"It didn't play out that way.

"So here we are, on the beach where he landed."

An autopsy will be carried out to confirm the identity of the body and determine a cause of death.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said: "It's pretty obvious that the tide came up high and deposited the body up on the high-water side of the shore, and the tide went out.

"Tides move pretty quick. When the tide flows out of here, it can take something a long way, and this beach and island are right in the way."

A coastguard will continue to search the beach for Ms Smiley.