A three-year-old girl is in critical but stable condition after she was pulled out of a swimming pool without vital signs in Scarborough on Tuesday night.
The incident occurred around 5:15 p.m. in the backyard of a home located in the Midland Avenue and St. Clair Avenue East area.
Paramedics who arrived on scene performed CPR on the girl. After five minutes, she coughed up food, they said.
The toddler was awake and crying after the incident, according to Toronto police Const. Craig Brister. She was taken to the Hospital for Sick Children.
On Wednesday, the toddler was still at the hospital in critical but stable condition.
“Children under the age of five pose the greatest risk for drownings in backyard pools. In fact, that age represents the highest number of drownings in backyard pools because those toddlers are generally drawn to the water,” Barbara Byers of the Royal Lifesaving Society told CTV Toronto.
“In many cases, they are fearless and they see that water as sort of an attractive, captivating place where they want to be. And if they can find a way to get there they will. So if there’s a door that’s partway open or a gate that’s open they are drawn to it.”
There have been seven children in Canada who have drowned in backyard pools this year. Two of them were in Ontario.
The Lifesaving Society of Ontario says drowning is the second leading preventable cause of death for children under 10.
