The search for an 8-year-old boy who fell into the Chicago River continued Friday as his father grew increasingly impatient while waiting and hoping for rescue workers to find a trace of his son.
Cashmere Castillo fell into the water Sunday after he jumped a fence along the river during a game of tag in Eugene Field Park, his family said.
On Friday afternoon his father stood near the very spot where his son disappeared, an area now crowded with vigil candles and photos.
“As a father, my instinct, it’s right here…” said Willy Castillo, 37, looking toward that stretch of river. “He is still (around) this area.”
Frustrated by the slow progress in finding the boy, Castillo said he had even considered asking for the authority to join rescue workers in the river, searching its depths with his very hands for his son. The workers told him to let them do their jobs, that they would work to find him, he said.
“He’s gone. Who else would survive five days [in the] water?” Castillo said. But the father still had hope that the rescue workers would find Cashmere.
“That’s going to give me a lot of closure,” he added.
Castillo said that each evening his family and friends have been having a novena, prayers traditionally said over days to obtain special graces.
“You know you are not alone,” the father said of the support. “That gives us a lot of comfort, that we are loved.”
On Friday afternoon rescue workers along the river, near West Carmen Avenue and North Albany Avenue, said the search for the boy was ongoing.
“Our search is continuing 24 hours a day,” said marine unit police Officer Mark Flechsig. “It is definitely not over.”
Tribune reporter Cynthia Dizikes contributed to this report.
