Zagreb (Croatia) - A 34-year-old woman is suspected of drowning her three-year-old daughter in a river. The mother was arrested by police on Thursday on suspicion of murder .

As the Croatian broadcaster HRT reported, witnesses saw a woman with a small child in her arms go into the Sava near the Jankomir Bridge shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

A short time later, she returned to the shore completely chilled - but without her child. Since then, the police, fire department, mountain rescue and civil protection services have been searching for the missing girl.

Antonio Stanić, the head of emergency services for the city of Zagreb, said: "The operation is going according to plan. We are conducting a detailed search. The conditions are not so good. It's quite cold and the teams need to rest. So far we haven't found anything."

Due to the low temperatures, the emergency services would not be able to stay on the boat for long.

Due to the poor weather conditions, the search had to be called off at around 7 p.m. on Thursday evening. It will continue on Friday morning, they said.

"We have things under control. The conditions are not ideal, but we are doing everything we can to find this little girl," said Ante Milinarić from the Red Cross.

Rescue workers used underwater scanners, reflectors and drones in the search.

The mother of the three-year-old was arrested by the police on Thursday.

The 34-year-old has since confessed to having gone into the water with her daughter in her arms.

While the search is still ongoing, the investigators did not want to disclose any further details. "This is a delicate matter," said Interior Minister Davor Božinović (63).