LAKEWOOD, TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) – A toddler has died after falling through a hole in the yard and into a septic tank in New Jersey.

According to police, a Lakewood woman, Marina Matais, reported that she could not find her two-year-old child at about 4:45 p.m. Monday.

Police and emergency personnel were immediately dispatched to her home on East Spruce Street.

A search team reported finding an approximately three foot wide hole in the yard that lead to a septic tank and called the Lakewood Township Public Works Department.

Just after 7:30 p.m., the water level was dropped and police and emergency personnel made visual contact with the child’s body inside the tank.

Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford released a statement that reads in part:

“The body is believed to be the child reported missing, although at this time that identification has not been made. The missing child, 2 years old, had been playing in the yard with her four siblings when she apparently fell down the hole into the septic tank. We all join in expressing our deep condolences to the family of this child, and I ask the media to be respectful of their privacy at this time.”

This incident remains under police investigation.