Major update in ‘murder’ of boy, 7, who plunged to his death off Stena ferry with mum in Baltic sea

Police are investigating the death of a 7-year-old boy, who died with his mother when they fell off a ferry, and suspect it was a possible murder-suicide.

The mother and son – Paulina and Lech – both died when they fell 20 meters from a Stena Line ship crossing the Baltic Sea.

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Witnesses have now revealed new details about the incident: The boy was in a wheelchair when he fell over the edge.

And it is reported that the surveillance cameras do not match the original version of events, according to which the mother intervened to “save” the child.

Grażyna Wawryniuk, a spokeswoman for the Gdańsk Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed that they are treating the case as a possible murder-suicide, reports BLT.

The mother and son were Polish nationals and had traveled from Sweden to Poland on a Stena Line passenger ship.

But tragedy struck on Thursday when the child fell off the ship.

His mother is said to have jumped overboard during a rescue attempt.

However, Stena Line spokeswoman Agnieszka Zembrzycka expressed doubts about this first version of events, claiming that the ship’s CCTV footage did not confirm it.

Meanwhile, Polish rescue expert Michal Mieczkowski told local media that the ship’s railing would have made an accidental crash impossible.

Mr Mieczkowski said: “The barriers are at chest level and I’m 180cm tall so it couldn’t have been an accidental fall.”

“Either the child was climbing and the shaking or rocking of the ship caused him to lose his balance, or is it a suicide attempt?”

Ships and helicopters from Sweden and NATO units scrambled to rescue the couple, identified locally as 36-year-old single mother Paulina and son Lech.

The two were later found in the freezing water, about an hour after the alarm went off.

However, although they were taken by helicopter to Sweden’s Karlskrona Hospital, both were pronounced dead.

On Friday, Swedish prosecutors confirmed they had launched an investigation into a possible murder, but said no suspect had been identified.