Authorities in Alabama are scouring the waters for four young children after their father allegedly confessed to tossing them off a bridge, police said Wednesday.
Police say the father, who has been charged, told them Tuesday night that he had thrown the children off the Dauphin Island Bridge. They range in age from four months to three years.
He first reported the children missing Monday, saying a woman who had the children failed to return them, authorities said.
Several boats and a helicopter scoured the area Wednesday along the bridge, which connects coastal Alabama to Dauphin Island about five kilometres south of Mobile Bay in the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's been a nightmare," Det. Scott Riva said.
The bridge is as high as 24 metres in places.
The children — four-month-old Danny Luong, one-year-old Lindsey Luong, two-year-old Hannah Luong and three-year-old Ryan Phan — are missing and presumed dead.
The three-year-old was not the man's biological son, but he raised him from infancy, authorities said.
Lam Luong, 37, of Irvington, Ala., has been charged with four counts of capital murder.
