Bleak search yields baby's body

By SCOTT INGLIS

A bitter wind cut across the harbour as the two policeman pulled Kamaljoit Singh's tiny body from the water.

The pair had been desperately searching for about an hour, helped by the police Eagle helicopter, when they found the baby boy about 150m from land just before 11.30am yesterday.

They slowly motored back to the lonely boat ramp at Onehunga Wharf. The only people waiting to greet them was a funeral director and two plain-clothes detectives.

Just over 12 hours earlier, two fisherman retrieved the body of the 11-month-old boy's Onehunga mother, Shaffjeet Kaur, from the same harbour.

The double tragedy unfolded after Shaffjeet Kaur, a 29-year-old, and her son fell from new Mangere Bridge, near the wharf, on about midnight Wednesday night.

Their deaths are not being treated as suspicious.

Two fisherman at the wharf shortly after midnight were asked to help. They used a four-pronged grapple hook to pull the woman's body as it floated past them.

A desperate search had also begun for the boy with police hoping they might find him alive. They used boats, the ariport rescue hovercraft and the WestpacTrust rescue helicopter in a fruitless night-time hunt.

That search resumed early yesterday but any hopes of finding him alive were dashed after the Eagle helicopter hovered over an area of water and diverted the two policemen.

They arrived back to land with the body shortly afterwards.

A police inquiry continued throughout yesterday but police said they were not looking for anyone in connection with the deaths.

Post-mortem examinations were carried out in the afternoon and their names released after they were formally identified and overseas relatives were notified.