Family’s wait for missing child ends in tragedy

Burlington Free Press

WINOOSKI - An 11-year-old's father kept solemn vigil on the river's edge near where his son disappeared on Tuesday. He was surrounded by extended family and first responders as he received the news late Wednesday afternoon that the body of his son was recovered.

Winooski police are looking for Ali Muhina,11, who was last reportedly seen playing near the Winooski River with three friends.

Lt. Scott McGivern of the Winooski police said the body of Ali Muhina was found with the help of Colchester Technical Rescue and the Vermont State Police dive team. He declined to say where the body was found.

Four children, according to an initial report by police Chief Rick Hebert, were playing at a sandy beach just down river of the hydroelectric dam in Winooski when Ali went missing. A couple taking photographs on the far shore reported to University of Vermont police at approximately 7 p.m. that they saw a boy fall in in the water.

First responders and divers from Colchester Technical Rescue spent several hours searching the Winooski River before pausing around 10:15 p.m. because of high, rapid waters.

As search efforts resumed on Wednesday morning, a group who identified themselves as Ali's extended family met with police near the Winooski Woolen Mill before being escorted to the temporary field command center at the Winooski One Hydroelectric Facility.

The family told a reporter on the scene that Ali and his family were Somali, but had lived for years in refugee camps in Kenya before coming to the U.S. in July 2016.

A diver searches a section of the Winooski river below the falls on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, for an 11-year-old child who fell into the river between Winooski and Burlington Tuesday evening.

More:Search for missing child in Winooski River ends for night

Ali's family and friends talked about the struggle to understand police procedure. Many in the group of about a half dozen expressed uncertainty about why the search was called off the previous night.

"Do we estimate, it's an automatic thing? Like he's dead, we don't have to waste our time looking for him? Is that what it means?," family friend Masiti Mohamed said, describing Ali's mother's grief. "We don't know what's happening. Maybe if we could have found him at that time, we could have revived him."

Chief Hebert said later that morning, "Once you go into recovery mode, which we were last night, the last thing you want to do is lose a first responder."

The chief described the water as too swift and the visuals too limited to continue the search on Tuesday night.

"The hull cameras were being pulled under the boats," Hebert said, adding that he hadn't given up hope that Ali might still be found alive.

"Our hearts go out to the family," Hebert said on behalf of the Winnooski police department.

Friends and extended family members talked about what they saw as the issue at the center of the matter between police efforts and family understanding.

Friends and neighbors wait while Ali's father sat at the rivers edge hoping for news while Masiti Mohamed, in a yellow hijab, maintained contact with Ali's family on July 12, 2017 at the Winooski River.

The translator, according to the group, did not speak Swahili, in which Ali's family is fluent.

Mohamed Noor, a man who identified himself as Ali's extended family, said the police translator on Tuesday night spoke a Mimi language, which Ali's father understands but can't speak.

"He needed more," Noor said of Ali's father Salimu Muhina.

Noor, Mohamed and another member of the group, Nauru Kamikaze, explained that Muhina didn't have a way to ask questions.

Chief Hebert said that because of the sensitive nature of the search the police did not use their phone translation service and instead tried to rely on a translator to convey information to the family.

As the morning progressed, Mohamed in her flowing black hijab was down at the water's edge with Vermont State Police Lt. Gary Scott and Ali's father. They had with them one of the boys who onlookers identified as playing with Ali the night he went missing.

Mohamed and the boy in a bright white baseball cap pointed out over the water as they spoke to Muhima.

After the group walked up the hill from the riverbank, Ali's father sank down, putting his head in his hands.

Hours later Ali's body was found.

Salimu Muhina, the father of missing 11-year-old Ali Muhina, places his head in his hands after going to the water's edge to talk to Vermont State Police rescue coordinators on July 12, 2017. First responders set up a field command center at Winooski One Hydroelectric Facility, near to where the boy went missing on July 11.

This incident was the second water-related safety incident in two days in greater Burlington. Monday afternoon, 17-year-old Christian Kibabu, a rising senior at Burlington High School, drowned in Lake Champlain near Oakledge Park.

A GoFundMe campaign was started by members of the Winooski/Burlington community to help Ali's family with expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/AliMuhina

Contact Nicole Higgins DeSmet at ndesmet@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1845. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHDeSmet.