Two brothers were found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool in Florida, late on May 22.
They were 5 and 6 years old, respectively.
A neighbor said that he saw the boys at the bottom of the pool at an apartment complex in North Lauderdale.
“I jumped over the fence and I began CPR. I was in [the] military so I started mouth to mouth and pumping his chest two, maybe three times but he didn’t respond,” he told WSVN.
“I left the first boy, grabbed the second one and began mouth to mouth. I began pumping two or three times and he threw up on me.”
Two brothers, ages 5 and 6, are dead after they drown in a North Lauderdale pool. https://t.co/q2JGAGYoLQ @Rielletvnews
— CBS4 Miami (@CBSMiami) May 23, 2019
Paramedics arrived on the scene to try resuscitating the boys before rushing them to a nearby hospital. Both were pronounced dead.
The boys’ mother was on the scene, watching people try to save her boys.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. They’re only five and they’re only six. I lost my babies too early. Bernario was supposed to graduate on the 28th but it is what it is. I’m sorry. I didn’t get to save them. I’m so sorry. If I was there I could have saved them on time,” the boys’ mother said.
She said one of her sons started attending swimming classes recently but that neither really knew how to swim.
BREAKING: Two little boys — ages 5 & 6 — found in the bottom of a pool at this North Lauderdale apartment complex late tonight.
Neighbors say paramedics tried resuscitating them on scene.
They were rushed to the hospital, alive.
The boys are brothers @wsvn pic.twitter.com/1tvANuixXb
— Andrew Dymburt (@DymburtNews) May 23, 2019
She said she has two younger children.
She said the older son probably thought that he could swim after taking some of the classes and went into the pool. When his younger brother saw him struggling, he jumped in try to help, she theorized.
“I wasn’t there to save them but they’re in a better place now. That’s all that matters,” the mother said through tears, reported CBS Miami.
She named them as Jakai and Menario to WLPG.
Brothers found dead at bottom of North Lauderdale swimming pool https://t.co/YdEQ7S62KH pic.twitter.com/vQoQDNBRRf
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) May 23, 2019
Child Drownings
Drowning is the fifth leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States, with about 10 people dying every day from unintentional drowning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 10, two are children aged 14 or younger.
“About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries,” it said.
“Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. In 2014, among children 1 to 4 years old who died from an unintentional injury, one-third died from drowning. Among children ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools,” it added.
“Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects).1 Among those 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes.”
Things to Do
Experts said that parents should make sure to keep an eye on their children when they’re in the water.
“We’re a distracted society,” Ashley Losch, a spokeswoman with the Glendale Fire Department, told the Arizona Republic. “So keeping yourself off of a cellphone when you’re supposed to be watching kids in water—whether it be a bathtub or (other bodies of water)—making sure you’re not distracted is huge.”
She said that mere minutes can be the difference between a child drowning or not drowning.
“Getting the child out, getting water out of their lungs and immediately starting CPR is the biggest lifesaving tool we can utilize,” Losch said. “And we encourage everybody to learn CPR—both adult and child because they are different.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents fence home swimming pools to help prevent children from gaining unauthorized access.
The group also recommends installing pool alarms and also considering alarms on doors, gates, and pool covers.
People should also assign someone to watch children in the pool, get life jackets for young children to use in the water, enroll children in swim lessons starting at an early age, learn CPR, check the water first if a child goes missing, and share tips with family and friends.
