An unidentified woman walks out of a house with a police officer on Fitzroy Place where a two-year-old was pulled from a backyard pool without vital signs shortly before 4 p.m. Friday. The child died, police later said.
(CRAIG GLOVER The London Free Press / QMI AGENCY)
Heartache washed over a south London street Friday, after a two-year-old child died in what police say was an apparent backyard drowning.
In a city that’s escaped water deaths so far this summer, it was a grim start to the holiday long weekend that often proves deadly in the water.
Emergency services were called to a house on Fitzroy Place near Adelaide St. and Bradley Ave. shortly after 3:30 p.m., where they were told a young child had been found unconscious in the backyard pool.
When they arrived, the tot had no vital signs. Responders tried to revive the child.
The two-year-old was taken to Children’s Hospital, but revival efforts failed.
The child appeared to have drowned, police said, but they were still investigating.
On the street, neighbours could be seen hugging an unidentified woman who came out of the house.
A forensic investigation van remained until shortly after 7 p.m. Police remained parked outside home into the evening.
Police did not identify the whether the tot was a boy or girl, but neighbours say a mother and her daughter live in the house.
There was no indication how the child might have got into the pool.
In London, pools are required to be fenced on all sides but an inspection crackdown last summer found nearly 20% of those surveyed were not.
