Picture released of missing girl, 11, Kaliyah Coa

A picture of an 11-year-old girl who went missing in the River Thames on Monday has been released by the Metropolitan Police.

The force said a recovery mission was under way along the Thames to find Kaliyah Coa.

Police were called at about 13:20 BST after Kaliyah, who had been playing during a school inset day, entered the water near Bargehouse Causeway, near London City Airport in east London.

Emergency services launched a “large-scale response” to the incident, the force said, but crews from the London Ambulance Service, LFB and the RNLI were later stood down.

On Tuesday, a witness who lives near the causeway said he had been alerted to the incident by the children who were with Kaliyah “shouting, screaming”.

His neighbour, 59-year-old Shaleen Rajaendram, added: “Then I saw suddenly two kids were coming out to the top of the bridge, I said ‘what happened?’

“Then they said ‘one of my friends was playing in the water, one of my friends has gone into water and she’s gone underneath and we can’t find her’.”

Ch Supt Dan Card from the Met, local policing commander for north-east London, said the force was committed to finding Kaliyah, and were using drone technology and boats as part of their “thorough search over a wide area”.

“Specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”

He added: “I’d like to thank the members of public, our first-responding officers, and colleagues from other emergency services, as they responded rapidly to carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time.”

The force is appealing for witnesses.

The search on Monday involved boats and helicopters from HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and London Fire Brigade.