A four-year-old boy died in a residential swimming pool on Saturday evening in Quebec. It is already a 28e drownings in the province in 2023, six more than last year at the same date.
A festive evening would have taken a tragic turn for a family on rue Albert-Trudel, in Loretteville, when the child was found in the family swimming pool around 9:30 p.m.
Upon their arrival on site, members of the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) carried out resuscitation maneuvers before the child was transported to a hospital center. His death was finally pronounced at the hospital.
Investigators from the Major Crimes Unit as well as technicians from the Forensic Identification Unit went to the scene to shed light on the events.
Mysterious circumstances
The weather was far from good when the child’s death occurred. It was around 12 degrees and driving rain fell on Quebec for a good part of the evening.
According to the SPVQ, “there is nothing to suggest that the equipment and layout of the pool did not comply” with the new Regulation on the safety of residential swimming pools of the Government of Quebec.
Shock wave
Dead calm reigned in the neighborhood the day after the sad events. Many people who live in the area were stunned when they heard the bad news late last night or early this morning.
“I haven’t been here long and I didn’t really know them, but it doesn’t matter, it’s always sad when a child loses their life,” said a resident of rue Albert-Trudel.
A lady she met on her return from the grocery store on rue Pélisson said that she “cannot imagine the pain” that the loss of a child can cause for parents.
Prevention
Lifesaving Society chief executive Raynald Hawkins is keen to point out that drowning in children most often happens without the knowledge of the parents and only takes about 20 seconds.
According to what has been observed The newspaper, various objects were still floating in the pool the day after the tragedy. A situation that Mr. Hawkins deplores since it increases the risks.
“When it’s not in use, you have to make the pool as unattractive as possible for a child by removing what’s there,” he concludes. Sometimes the young victim just wanted to fetch a toy that got stuck in the water and didn’t even intend to swim.”
Rescue in extremis
The toll could have been even heavier in Quebec this weekend, when a passerby saved a four-year-old child from drowning on Friday evening.
The latter slipped on rocks near the Montmorency River, in the Beauport sector, and was carried away by the current. A passing jogger came to her aid.
Her gesture was hailed on social media by the girl’s mother, who warmly thanked her for her bravery and called her a “hero”.
Drowning in young children
– 85% of drownings in children under five are caused by a lack of supervision, according to the latest data from the Lifesaving Society.
– Deaths in residential swimming pools represent approximately 15% of all drownings in Quebec.
– Over the past ten years, 5% of drownings in Canada have occurred in residential swimming pools. 53% of those deaths involved a child aged four and under.
– 3% of people who drowned in the country in the last decade were aged five and under.