River searched after tossed baby report

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, July 20 (UPI) -- Police in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said they searched the banks of the Red River after a witness claimed a woman threw a baby off a bridge.

The search was started shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday when a deaf woman ran into a restaurant and communicated through sign language she had seen another woman throw a baby off the Provencher Bridge into the quickly flowing river, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Winnipeg Police Service Staff Sgt. Gordon Gold told reporters no evidence had been found to support the eyewitness account as of 10 p.m., when the search was called off for the night. Gold added that the woman who made the report has had prior contact with police.

The Free Press said police waded into the river in the fading daylight while at least a dozen emergency vehicles blocked access to the bridge.