A seven-year-old boy has died after falling overboard off a passenger ferry - with his mum also killed jumping into the sea to save him.
The child fell into the Baltic Sea on Thursday before his frantic mum jumped in after him, said a Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson.
Swedish authorities say they have launched a murder probe in connection with the tragic incident.
Both had been on the Stena Spirit ferry, travelling from the Polish port of Gdynia to the Swedish port of Karlskrona with just over 300 people on board when the tragedy occurred.
Crew issued a mayday signal and reportedly turned round to head back to the scene where they fell.
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NATO sent ships and helicopters in a desperate attempt to rescue the mum and son, as did Swedish authorities.
The 36-year-old woman and child were airlifted to hospital in Karlskrona before they were pronounced dead a short while later.
The exact nature of the incident is currently unknown with authorities refusing to disclose why the suspect the boy was murdered.
Both are believed to be Polish citizens, with police spokesperson Mariusz Ciarka telling local media that it was impossible to save the lives of the two.
He said: "Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead."
The boy fell from a height of about 20 meters – 65 feet – off the vessel, it has been reported.
Prosecutor Stina Brindmark said investigators were looking into the suspected murder, but would not comment on whether it involved the boy's mother or a third party.
"The two people who fell from a ferry travelling to Karlskrona yesterday have died," the prosecutor said.
"The investigation aims to try to clarify what happened."
One Stena Line spokesperson however told Polish media that CCTV footage from the ship did not match initial reports of events that the boy had fallen and the woman jumped in after him.
Declining to expand on that, spokeswoman Agnieszka Zembrzycka told TVN 24: "At the moment we have no information whether this was due to a malfunction of the ferry.
"We are cooperating with the police and other authorities that are appointed to explain the causes and circumstances of this event."
Anders Olsson, who was on the rescue helicopter that pulled the woman from the sea, told Swedish radio on Friday that she was ‘not responsive’ and first aid was administered to her.
Swedish police issued an appeal to Polish passengers via Poland’s state-run news agency PAP asking for information that could explain how the accident occurred.
