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They came from far and wide.
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They → see → Source
Some rolled out of their beds during the small hours to reach their destination by dawn, others came from nearby towns and villages; pushing buggies, clutching walking sticks, carrying packed lunches, flasks of coffee and a torrent of hope.
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others → roll → hope
Young, old; men, women – it was a crowd united that descended on the Suffolk village of Brantham.
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that → unite → Brantham
So often it is dissent that brings crowds together, but this was not one of those occasions.
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this → bring → occasions
Rather, this was a crowd drawn together with one compelling, heart-wrenching intent: to find three-year-old Noah Woods, who had disappeared from a playground in the village on Tuesday afternoon.
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who → draw → afternoon
If a community could work miracles, this would have been the one to do it.
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this → work → it
But last night, all hope slipped away in then most devastating of ways at a hastily convened announcement at Brantham Leisure Centre, where the volunteer searchers were still assembled.
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searchers → slip → Centre
They wept as Superintendent Tom Pearse addressed them after Noah's body was found.
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body → weep → them
'You will have heard the news,' he said.
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he → hear → news
'First and foremost, our thoughts are with Noah's family and all those who knew him.'
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who → know → him
He said the agencies involved in the search, and Noah's family, had been 'overwhelmed by the outpouring of public support – people putting on their boots and helping us with the search and that, ladies and gentlemen, is yourselves'.
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that → say → search
The officer's voice cracked with emotion at times as he addressed the crowd of volunteers.
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he → crack → volunteers
Noah's family, he said, now needed 'time, space and privacy'.
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he → say → time
Hundreds of members of the public had joined the search to find three–year–old Noah Woods, who went missing after visiting a playground in Suffolk
He said: 'As a parent myself, I completely understand why people would want to help, and such a response is one that typifies the strong sense of community and the heartwarming nature of Suffolk people that make the county such a special place.'
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county → join → people
Noah's body was found by police divers in the dark waters of Decoy Pond, beside a path that led from the playground 200 yards away.
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that → find → playground
He had been playing happily when, in the blink of an eye, the chubby-cheeked young boy, with his soft crop of red curls, apparently managed to escape the attention of the family member watching over him and slip down a narrow pathway and disappear.
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boy → play → pathway
In other words, just the kind of scenario every parent dreads; and one many have experienced.
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many → dread → scenario
There is usually a moment of blind, heart-racing panic that is typically followed by the sheer relief of discovering that the little escapee is happily occupied a short distance away.
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escapee → be → relief
Except, in Noah's case, that is not what happened.
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what → happen → case
The boy, who had been having an assessment for autism, was non-verbal and partially deaf, did not reappear and every hour that passed marked another hour in which his agonised family's desperation mounted.
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desperation → have → which
It was that knowledge that propelled the remarkable community efforts that started on Tuesday evening, when the first police appeal was made.
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appeal → propel → evening
The population of Brantham, on the edge of the River Stour, is normally around 2,300 people, but by lunchtime on Wednesday it had grown by nearly half again as at least 1,300 volunteers descended, offering to do whatever they could to help find the boy.
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they → grow → boy
The shared sentiment echoed across the assembled throng, who queued in waves throughout the day to register for search party duty in a village hall that has never seen so many volunteers.
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that → share → volunteers
CCTV images of the last whereabouts of Noah were released by police
Floral tributes are left by the playground close to where Noah went missing
Around 150 people crammed into the hall at 9.30am for a briefing from the parish council clerk and police, and there were similar meetings throughout the day.
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people → release → day
'Everybody who is a parent has had a moment where they've turned their back and their child's disappeared,' said one smartly dressed man.
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man → have → back
'They know what that feels like.'
They watched the CCTV footage of Noah, when it was released online on Wednesday lunchtime, on their phones.
It was just the kind of innocent vignette seen at playgrounds around the country: a young boy spinning a roundabout and running with it as it turns.
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it → know → it
By 2.37pm he had vanished.
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he → vanish → 2.37pm
It is thought that he ran down an alleyway beside the playground towards a nearby new-build housing estate, with construction ongoing, and Decoy Pond, which is used by fishermen.
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which → think → fishermen
The area is surrounded by woodland and fields overlooking the estuary and the railway line between Ipswich and Liverpool Street, London.
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area → surround → Ipswich
Just three hours later, police issued a first appeal to the public to help find Noah, including an image and a description of what he was wearing – shorts, black Vans trainers with a white stripe and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the children's TV character, Bluey.
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he → issue → character
From the start Suffolk police said they were treating their hunt as 'a missing person investigation'.
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they → say → investigation
'There is nothing to indicate anything sinister or any element of criminality has taken place although we keep an open mind as to the circumstances,' said Supt Pearse.
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Pearse → be → circumstances
The response from the public was striking for its genuinely good-natured, focused drive, the willingness to adhere to police instructions about where search parties should and shouldn't go.
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parties → adhere → instructions
Aerial images show specialist police teams preparing to search a local lake on Wednesday
Noah vanished after becoming separated from a relative in Merriam Close, Brantham, on Tuesday afternoon
Searches continued throughout Wednesday, with two helicopters (police and coastguard), drones and a boat.
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Searches → show → helicopters
The first indications of a more ominous turn of events came at 4pm when a Metropolitan Police specialist diving team arrived at Decoy Pond.
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team → come → Pond
The path leading from the playground towards the pond was cordoned off.
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path → lead → pond
Later, a human cordon formed by members of Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue gathered around the pond's edge.
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cordon → form → edge
Standing around 30ft apart from each other, they prevented members of the public getting to within around 150ft of the water.
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members → stand → water
The cordon melted away at about 5.20pm, minutes before police made the tragic announcement that a body had been found.
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body → melt → announcement
It was what many had feared but nobody wanted to hear – least of all the volunteers who had come wearing high-visibility jackets, responding to the heartfelt words of Noah's father Rhys Woods, 25, who had posted on social media asking volunteers to widen their search beyond the village where possible.
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who → fear → village
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
