Search resumes for missing baby off SA South East coast

South Australian Police will today resume searching for a missing baby off Cape Northumberland in the state's south-east, a day after the bodies of a woman and toddler were recovered.The bodies were seen floating in the ocean when police attended reports of a vehicle left running near cliffs west of Port MacDonnell, about 400 kilometres south-east of Adelaide.Police launched an operation with support from the SA SES, CFS and local fishermen, where the body of a 36-year-old woman from Compton near Mount Gambier, and her toddler were retrieved. Another child seen with the woman earlier on Monday morning remains missing, with grave fears for their safety as searching resumes on Tuesday."The child is less than one-year-old, in any conditions that would cause great concern about the child's ability to survive," said Superintendent Trent Cox, officer in charge of Limestone Coast Region.He said it remains unclear how the woman and the toddler came to be in the water."We can't tell exactly how the woman and the young child have entered the water," he said."We're keeping an open mind as to how they've come to be in the water and that will be part of the investigation."Two bodies have been recovered from the ocean off the Port MacDonnell coastline. (ABC News: Aiden MacNamara)'It gets around a small town quickly'Port MacDonnell local and lobster fisherman Tom Ryan said the town was mourning the loss of the woman and her child."Anything like this, it gets around a small town quickly and people are pretty upset by things like this," Mr Ryan said.The incident occurred less than a kilometre from Mr Ryan's home."It's pretty confronting having something that serious happen that close to your house, especially when you hear that there's children involved that also brings a whole other dimension to what's happened."Mr Ryan said the incident highlighted again the need for Port MacDonnell to have its own marine rescue boat."It's one of the things that we're lacking," he said."We're one of the biggest fishing ports in South Australia, specifically for southern rock lobster but we don't have our own search and rescue vessel, so most ports in Australia that have this many commercial fishing boats and or just a harbour that houses that many boats, even if they're recreational fishers has a marine rescue."Superintendent Cox confirmed volunteers had contributed to the search efforts on Monday and would likely do so again on Tuesday."Any marine asset in proximity would be useful, we've been very fortunate to have the services of volunteer marine rescue from Kingston. We would never stop advocating for as many resources as we can get," he said.Police have urged anyone who may have seen a white Isuzu MU-X registration S592 BJR to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.