Two incidents in greater Montreal backyard pools, one child confirmed to have drown on the weekend

Over the weekend, two incidents in greater Montreal-area backyard pools where children were found unconscious – one is confirmed to have died, the other, was still said to be in critical condition as of Monday morning according to police.

The latest on Sunday afternoon in Repentigny. Authorities say a five-year-old submerged for at least 20 minutes in a pool that was said to not have been opened for the season – muddy and dark water. Officers report neighbours jumped in to save the child, but had trouble locating him to start and then bringing him up. First responders helping as soon as they got on the scene and police retrieving the child from the deep end.

“Yesterday, June 12th, at 3:47 p.m., we received a 911 call regarding a young boy who had fallen [into a pool],” explained Catherine Rhéaume, Repentigny police. “When the officers got there, two neighbors were trying to pull the young boy out of the pool. But it was really hard because what you need to understand is that the pool had been abandoned for two years.

“There was a lot of debris inside the pool, a lot of leaves you could not see through the water. It was hard to find the boy in the pool. One of the agents jumped in and helped one of the neighbours pull the young boy out eventually, and the paramedics were all already on site. As soon as the young boy was retrieved out of the pool, they started CPR and he was immediately transferred to a local hospital where he’s still, unfortunately, in critical condition.”

#WATCH: “Drowning is a silent killer,” says Adam Di Fulvio of Montreal Swim Institute, adding that it only takes 15 seconds for a child to drown and doesn’t always involve children screaming for help. This is why he calls for increased supervision.

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Repentigny police said there were visitors at the home, a few adults and other kids around – and that all pool regulations were respected, meaning a fence was around it and locked.

“It’s just a tragic accident. And we can’t describe exactly what happened since we were not there. But we can say for sure there’s no foul play regarding the pool and the safety regulations were respected.”

Four-year-old child died in St-Lambert

On Saturday, a four-year-old boy was found unconscious in a St-Lambert home pool around 4:10 p.m. and was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after 5 p.m.

The child was the 20^th person to drown in Quebec this year.

Longueuil Police report that the inground pool was fenced and it wasn’t clear how the child got into the area.

It takes seconds for a child to drown

“Drowning is a silent killer,” says Adam Di Fulvio of Montreal Swim Institute, adding that it only takes 15 seconds for a child to drown and doesn’t always involve children screaming for help. This is why he calls for increased supervision.

“Fifteen to 20 seconds, which is the time to, like, run inside and do a load of laundry or go and grab your phone or anything like that. And the reason that it’s silent is because when kids are drowning, they’re underwater most of the time. And when they do come up for that fleeting second, the only thing that they’ll do is is gulp air. And before they go back under again and that process will repeat under for a while, up to go bare under for a while. And that’ll happen up until, you know, until the kid isn’t able to come back up again.”

Quebec’s Lifesaving Society says 85 per cent of drownings happen in backyard pools when there’s no supervision. That it’s crucial to keep young children within arm’s reach.

“Our basic set of rules that we use is the ABCs of pool safety, which is to always actively watch your kids not playing on your phone, but they’re with them. Watching them or getting in the water with them. B is to be able to swim, learn to swim at the youngest age possible, get into swimming lessons and C is the checklist for backyard pools, which is the guidelines the Quebec government provides to ensure that your pool is essentially an impenetrable fortress,” said Di Fulvio

Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) adds that drowning prevention requires a multifaceted approach, including:

• Constant adult supervision: close, undistracted and attentive surveillance of children around any body of water, all eyes on the water at all times. This means no phones, screens, books, and no chatting with neighbours or drinking alcohol. The supervising adult should be within arm’s reach of anyone with weak swimming skills;
• Swimming lessons are encouraged;
• CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training is recommended;
• Never swim alone, regardless of age;
• Know the swimming skill level of those in your pool.

MCH experts emphasize the following life-saving measures to prevent drowning:

• Ensure there is no direct access to the pool from the house or patio;
• Install adequate fencing around the pool (4-sided, self-locking fence of at least 1.2 meter high);
• Close and lock the gate to the pool when not in use;
• When there is direct access to a lake, make sure doors remain locked at all times to prevent a child from wandering into the water;
• Ensure that children are properly supervised when going on a field trip to a pool, lake or water park;
• Teach children to always swim with a buddy;
• Make sure to swim in an area that matches swimming ability.

Every year in Canada, approximately 60 children under the age of 14 drown; another 140 are hospitalized after a near-drowning. According to the Canadian Red Cross, from year to year, drowning is the first or second leading cause of death for children between 1 and 4 years old, and the fourth leading cause of death in children under the age of 14.