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Mother charged with attempted murder of son in Moama, younger boy missing.

Police say a woman who handed herself in at Echuca has been charged with the attempted murder of one of her sons, as police look for the younger boy, after an incident at Moama on the Murray River last night.

The nine-year-old son of the woman is in hospital as police continue to search for his five-year-old brother who is feared drowned in the Murray River.

Police say the mother, a Deniliquin woman in her 20s, took the boys to a property outside Moama yesterday at 4:00pm where they were fishing in the river.

A dog attacked the mother and older boy who then ran up to the banks of the river screaming, which alerted other people.

Moama police were then called to the scene and found the nine-year-old with serious dog bite injuries before learning his brother was missing.

Police divers have been searching for the five-year-old today.

The ABC understands the dog that bit the boy was reacting to what was happening in the water and was not a family pet.

The older boy was taken to Echuca Hospital before being transported to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne for treatment.

The mother turned herself into Echuca Police last night and it is expected she will be extradited to New South Wales today.

The search of the Murray River is being conduced by divers from Victoria Police as well as a NSW search and rescue team, the SES and the Rural Fire Service.

The administrator of Edward River Council in Deniliquin, Ashley Hall, said the community was reeling as news came through.

“This has sent shockwaves, you’ve got a boy being operated [on] in Melbourne for dog bites and five-year-old missing, you’ve got to hope for a miracle but it’s not looking too promising at the moment,” she said.

The search of the Murray River is being conduced by divers from Victoria Police as well as a NSW search and rescue team, the SES and the Rural Fire Service.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.


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