A three-year-old girl reportedly died on Friday after being left alone in the bathtub for just a few moments. This is a sad reminder that a child can drown at a depth of just 20 centimeters, according to the French health authority.
On Friday around 7:35 p.m., police officers from Gentilly, south of Paris, were called to a house where a three-year-old girl had just been found lifeless in the bathtub by her father, Le Parisien reported on Saturday.
According to investigators, the father was probably only absent for a few moments before returning to find his little girl floating on the surface of the water.
According to French media, he immediately started giving first aid while waiting for firefighters to arrive and the little girl vomited water.
She was then transported to a hospital in critical condition “after a long cardiac arrest and an extreme recovery,” but did not survive her drowning death, Le Parisien learned on Sunday.
According to reports, no charges have been filed against the shocked father at this time.
This tragedy, which comes just days after the start of the new year, is a sad reminder of the importance of keeping an eye on your children when they play in the water, according to a survey conducted by Public Health France this year 2021 reports showed that drowning can occur in water depths as low as 20 centimeters.
If only 4% of drowning deaths occur outside bodies of water, death by drowning remains the riskiest domestic accident, Le Parisien concluded.