Toddler dies in holiday tragedy

Some holiday cabins on the estate sit just yards from the burn

A toddler has died after being found in a small stream near his family's Perthshire holiday home.

Rory Neil Cochran, from Edinburgh, had been reported missing by his parents from their log cabin in Kirkmichael, between Blairgowrie and Pitlochry.

A helicopter and sniffer dogs were called in to search woodland where the 22-month-old was last seen.

He was found by the search team in a stretch of the nearby Tullochcurran Burn at about 1430 BST.

The youngster was taken by RAF helicopter to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where he later died.

A spokesman for Tayside Police said a family liaison officer had been appointed.

Normally the burn is not deep at all, maybe one or two inches, and in the summer children go there to play and splash around Anthony Reid Balnakilly Estate

The spokesman added: "At around 12.40pm this afternoon a 22-month-old boy was reported missing from a holiday cabin situated in the Kirkmichael area of Blairgowrie.

"Tayside Police officers attended and a search was carried out of the neighbouring holiday cabins and the nearby Tullochcurran Burn.

"The little boy was found in a stretch of the burn at around 2.30pm. He was airlifted by RAF helicopter to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where sadly he died."

The cabin is one of several self-catering wooden cottages on the 1,500-acre privately-owned Balnakilly estate which are available for people to hire.

Estate owner Anthony Reid said Rory's family had only arrived at the cabin on Saturday.

'Raining all night'

Mr Reid said the burn, which flows just yards from the front doors of some of the estate's nine holiday homes, was the deepest he had ever seen it during the summer months.

He added: "Normally the burn is not deep at all, maybe one or two inches, and in the summer children go there to play and splash around. It's 100% safe.

"But it had been raining all night and may have risen. Last night was very wet. It wasn't flowing fast but faster than usual."

Mr Reid said about 40 people, including other holidaymakers from the estate, had joined the search for the boy when he was first reported missing.

He added: "It is a tragedy and we still don't know exactly what happened."