“Mom!”
That cry was the last word an anguished London mother said she heard from her young daughter before she was swept away by the fast-flowing Thames River, triggering a massive search for the seven-year-old that has now become a recovery mission.
Little Anna Bielli was with her mother Karen Fermill and two younger siblings on Thursday afternoon when she apparently fell into the storm-swollen Thames in northeast London, east of the Adelaide Street North bridge, and vanished in the swift currents.
Saturday, as the search for her daughter entered its third day, Fermill waited at home for news, clutching her phone and hanging onto Anna’s final cry before she disappeared in the water, turning her family’s world “into pieces.”
“Her last word meant a lot, even though it’s just three letters,” said Fermill, 39. “Instead of saying help, she called for me.”
Thursday began as just another summer day with her children, Fermill said.
She’d taken the three of them – Anna, her six-year-old sister and three-year-old brother – to the North London Athletic Fields, close to their Kipps Lane home, so the girls could bike. Anna, she said, was excited to show off her new cycling skills,
“Every day I try my best to make them happy,” Fermill said.
After playing in the riverside park for a few hours, the kids wanted to dip their feet in the water at a special place where their father used to take them, Fermill said. She took them to the shallow, sandy spot along the river.
“Because I touched the water first before them, and it was calm, I let them play for a little while,” she said.
“When their feet touched the water, they were just happy little kids in front of me playing. Then I said, after a few minutes – I said, ‘It’s time’s up, guys. Let’s go back.’”
FULL STORY: https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-mother-of-girl-missing-in-river-clings-to-daughters-final-cry
