4-year-old boy drowns after falling into river in Northern Michigan, officials say: 'This is heartbreaking'

WOLVERINE (WWJ) -- A 4-year-old boy has died after officials say he fell into a river in Northern Michigan and drowned.

The Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office said it determined that the child was with his father and other children at Lumberjack Park in Wolverine Village when he fell into the Sturgeon River, shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 15.

The child was reported missing, and the Tuscarora Township Fire Department member who lives in the area arrived on scene and began searching the shoreline of the Sturgeon River for the boy, identified as James Patrick Zassadney of Onaway.

The child was unresponsive when he was pulled from the river, the sheriff's office said, and the efforts of first responders he was pronoucned dead at Otsego Memorial Hospital.

“This is heartbreaking, for anyone to lose a child, our thoughts are with the family at this time,” said Sheriff Tim Cook, in a news release. “This was a situation where one minute you know where your child is and the next, they're gone. It’s so unfortunate."

The Cheboygan County Dive Team, Tuscarora and Wolverine Fire Departments, Cheboygan Life Support Systems, Michigan State Police, and the DNR all assisted on the scene.