A four-year-old boy died at a residential swimming pool in Quebec on Saturday night. It’s already a 28e There were drownings in the province in 2023, up six from the same time the previous year.
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 9.30pm.
Upon arrival at the scene, members of the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) performed CPR before transporting the child to a hospital. His death was finally announced at the hospital.
Investigators from the Major Crimes Unit and technicians from the Forensic Identification Unit were on site to shed some light on the matter.
mysterious circumstances
The weather was far from good when the child died. The temperature was around 12 degrees and it rained for much of the evening in Quebec.
According to the SPVQ, “there is no evidence that the pool equipment and layout did not comply with the new Quebec government regulation on residential pool safety.”
shock wave
The day after the sad events, absolute calm reigned in the neighborhood. Many people living in the area were stunned to hear the bad news late last night or early this morning.
“I haven’t been here long and didn’t really know her, but that 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 rue Pélisson on her return from the grocery store said she “couldn’t imagine the pain” the loss of a child could cause for parents.
prevention
Raynald Hawkins, executive director of the Life Saving Society, would like to point out that most child drownings happen unbeknownst to the parents and last only about 20 seconds.
As Le Journal was able to determine, various objects were still floating in the pool the day after the tragedy. A situation Mr Hawkins regrets as it increases the risks.
“When it’s not in use, you have to make the pool as unappealing as possible for a child by removing everything that’s in there,” he concludes. Sometimes the young victim just wanted to retrieve a toy that got stuck in the water and didn’t even intend to swim.
rescue in extreme cases
The damage could have been worse in Quebec this weekend when a passerby saved a four-year-old child from drowning on Friday night.
The latter slipped on rocks near the Montmorency River in the Beauport sector and was swept away by the current. A passing jogger came to her aid.
Her gesture was celebrated 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 the age of five are due to lack of supervision, according to the latest data from the Life Saving Society.
– Deaths in private swimming pools account for about 15% of all drownings in Quebec.
– Over the past ten years, 5% of drownings in Canada occurred in private swimming pools. 53% of these deaths were in children aged four years and younger.
– 3% of people who have drowned in the country in the last decade were aged five and under.