A family picnic in Prospect Park turned tragic on Saturday when a toddler drowned in the lake after disappearing with a cousin.
Police scuba divers found the body of Ruhshona Kurbonova, 2, in a wooded area of Prospect Park Lake on Saturday evening, ending a five-hour search, according to an NYPD spokeswoman.
The two children apparently strayed from the gathering and headed toward the water, where a family strolling in the park found Kurbonova’s 3-year-old cousin, cops stated. The older child was wet and covered in the green algae found on the edge of the lake near the boathouse, police said.
A 911 caller reported the other child missing around 1:10 pm, shortly after the cousin was found, police said. Officers fanned out across the greensward on foot and bicycle, and a police scuba-diving team began searching the lake. Divers found the 2-year-old’s body at about 6:05 pm, police said, and the medical examiner’s office determined she drowned, an office representative said.
Kurbonova’s inconsolable mother, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, according to news reports, had to be carried off on a stretcher following the discovery. Kurbonova was the youngest of four, and the family’s only girl, a relative told reporters.
