British toddler drowns in family pool in Benitatxell, Alicante

Sandi wrote:Well Anna, until the full facts are known, I don't think anyone should start condemning a family. How many times have each of us with our own children, got on with doing jobs and they have been playing and our household duties means that they have been left unattended? How many times of each of us thought to ourselves it is quiet in there what are they up to? How many of us have been to the loo and left children unattended?

For all we know they could have been playing inside and one of them opened the door and the other sneaked out unbeknown to the parents. This could have been just a tragic accident, because they do happen and I do not feel right criticising the parents before we know the full facts.

Left alone for just a few seconds: British girl, two, drowns in swimming pool in Spain

By Tom Worden
Last updated at 3:17 PM on 16th August 2010



Boats on the Costa Blanca (file photo). A British toddler has drowned in the area at her mother's swimming pool

A British girl of two has drowned in a swimming pool at her mother's villa in Spain.

Gabriela Louisa Manning fell in the pool while her mother attended her twin brother inside the house, police said.

The tragedy happened at around 5pm on Saturday in the village of Benitatxell, 50 miles north east of Alicante on the Costa Brava, where the mother lives with her two children.

A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil, investigating the death, said: 'It appears the mother went inside the house to attend to the young boy, and when she went back outside she found the girl's body floating in the water.

'She pulled the girl from the water and tried to revive her, them immediately called the emergency services.

'Tragically they were unable to revive her either.

'Unfortunately it can take less than 30 seconds for a person to drown and we are seeing more and more of these types of death in private swimming pools.

'The mother is understandably distraught.'

Civil Guard officers examined scene, the swimming pool and the house.

But the spokeswoman added: 'Everything points to this being a tragic accident.'

It is understood the mother, who has been living in Spain for several years, is separated from the children's father, who is thought to live in the UK.


Tragedy: The incident happened at around 5pm on Saturday in the village of Benitatxell, 50 miles north-east of Alicante

She was treated for shock at her home.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service in the province of Alicante, on the east coast of Spain, said: 'We received an emergency call from the mother at 5.09pm saying she her two-year-old daughter had fallen in the swimming pool.

'An ambulance was sent to the address, a private home, and paramedics attempted to revive the girl but they were unable to save her life.

'She was unconscious when they arrived and was pronounced dead at the scene.'

The toddler's body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Alicante where an autopsy is/was due to be carried out today.

A judge overseeing an investigation into the death visited the villa before agreeing the body could be moved.

The toddler had no visible injuries or signs of violence.

The mayor of Benitatxell, Josefa Ronda Valles, said: 'We are very saddened by this tragic death and our hearts go out to the young girl's mother and the rest of the family.'

The seaside village is hugely popular with British expats, who account for around half the population.

AnnaEsse wrote: It surely takes a lot longer than a trip to the loo time for a child to find his/her way to a swimming pool, drown and be found floating.

Sandi wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote: It surely takes a lot longer than a trip to the loo time for a child to find his/her way to a swimming pool, drown and be found floating.

It can take as little as 30 seconds for someone to drown. The Daily Mail gives more details, the mother apparently took the little boy in to deal with him and left the other child. When she returned she found the toddler in the pool. She had been outside with them prior to her taking the little boy indoors to tend to him.

Sandi wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote: It surely takes a lot longer than a trip to the loo time for a child to find his/her way to a swimming pool, drown and be found floating.

It can take as little as 30 seconds for someone to drown. The Daily Mail gives more details, the mother apparently took the little boy in to deal with him and left the other child. When she returned she found the toddler in the pool. She had been outside with them prior to her taking the little boy indoors to tend to him.

Sandi wrote:Beg to differ docmac

http://first-aid.suite101.com/article.cfm/children-can-drown-in-less-time-than-it-takes-to-answer-a-phone

A child can drown in five to eight centimetres of water within 30 seconds.


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2698_132/ai_104971291/

While shallow water in pools or along coastlines seem harmless enough to let a child splash around in, you may be surprised to learn that most drownings occur in less than four feet of water. In fact, experts from the American Safety & Health Institute (ASHI), a first aid training and safety organization dedicated to designing and delivering programs in health, aquatic safety, and emergency medical care, warn that small children can drown in as little as one inch of water and in just 30 seconds.

lifeisforliving wrote:The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult. Personally, I think anyone who can manage that is a saint and those who have managed till their children reached beyond the toddler stage deserve to be on some kind of roll of honour. I know that while always being very attentive I can't claim perfection in my own observations of children in my care. Every good parent and carer tries their best but those who achieve perfection are very special indeed.

With regard to this particular story I have to wonder how some can be judge and jury on such a small amount of actual information (and all of it via the notoriously unreliable press of course). If the child was left alongside the pool itself then that was wrong. I don't know if that happened. I will leave it to the investigators to give details of the layout of the property etc. before pronouncing judgement.

AnnaEsse wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult. Personally, I think anyone who can manage that is a saint and those who have managed till their children reached beyond the toddler stage deserve to be on some kind of roll of honour. I know that while always being very attentive I can't claim perfection in my own observations of children in my care. Every good parent and carer tries their best but those who achieve perfection are very special indeed.

With regard to this particular story I have to wonder how some can be judge and jury on such a small amount of actual information (and all of it via the notoriously unreliable press of course). If the child was left alongside the pool itself then that was wrong. I don't know if that happened. I will leave it to the investigators to give details of the layout of the property etc. before pronouncing judgement.

I don't think you're getting the right message. Like a previous poster on this thread, I filled in a pond in my garden. I did this when my grandson was on the point of being mobile simply because a few seconds is all it takes. There are, of course, accidents that will happen however careful we are, but there are ways of cutting down on the risks. My garden doesn't have a pond any more, but it's not child-proof either since there are no gates. So, my grandson is never out there by himself, although he is nearly four. Since a small child can drown very quickly in just a few inches of water, leaving a two-year-old, even for 30 seconds on their own by a pool is a risk that I wouldn't take.

Thirty seconds out of the sight of an adult very much depends on the context. That length of time on their own in, perhaps, their own bedroom where risks have been assessed and the room is fairly safe, is very different from 30 seconds by a swimming pool. I would have felt OK leaving my grandson in his own room for a very short while when he was 2 years old because there was a stair gate at the top of the stairs down to the hall and one to the stairs to the attic rooms. I wouldn't have left him on his own in my garden, with or without a pond.

lifeisforliving wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult. Personally, I think anyone who can manage that is a saint and those who have managed till their children reached beyond the toddler stage deserve to be on some kind of roll of honour. I know that while always being very attentive I can't claim perfection in my own observations of children in my care. Every good parent and carer tries their best but those who achieve perfection are very special indeed.

With regard to this particular story I have to wonder how some can be judge and jury on such a small amount of actual information (and all of it via the notoriously unreliable press of course). If the child was left alongside the pool itself then that was wrong. I don't know if that happened. I will leave it to the investigators to give details of the layout of the property etc. before pronouncing judgement.

I don't think you're getting the right message. Like a previous poster on this thread, I filled in a pond in my garden. I did this when my grandson was on the point of being mobile simply because a few seconds is all it takes. There are, of course, accidents that will happen however careful we are, but there are ways of cutting down on the risks. My garden doesn't have a pond any more, but it's not child-proof either since there are no gates. So, my grandson is never out there by himself, although he is nearly four. Since a small child can drown very quickly in just a few inches of water, leaving a two-year-old, even for 30 seconds on their own by a pool is a risk that I wouldn't take.

Thirty seconds out of the sight of an adult very much depends on the context. That length of time on their own in, perhaps, their own bedroom where risks have been assessed and the room is fairly safe, is very different from 30 seconds by a swimming pool. I would have felt OK leaving my grandson in his own room for a very short while when he was 2 years old because there was a stair gate at the top of the stairs down to the hall and one to the stairs to the attic rooms. I wouldn't have left him on his own in my garden, with or without a pond.

I don't think I have missed any point. Just won't be joining in with a judgemental post till I am sure of the facts.

The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult.

AnnaEsse wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

lifeisforliving wrote:The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult. Personally, I think anyone who can manage that is a saint and those who have managed till their children reached beyond the toddler stage deserve to be on some kind of roll of honour. I know that while always being very attentive I can't claim perfection in my own observations of children in my care. Every good parent and carer tries their best but those who achieve perfection are very special indeed.

With regard to this particular story I have to wonder how some can be judge and jury on such a small amount of actual information (and all of it via the notoriously unreliable press of course). If the child was left alongside the pool itself then that was wrong. I don't know if that happened. I will leave it to the investigators to give details of the layout of the property etc. before pronouncing judgement.

I don't think you're getting the right message. Like a previous poster on this thread, I filled in a pond in my garden. I did this when my grandson was on the point of being mobile simply because a few seconds is all it takes. There are, of course, accidents that will happen however careful we are, but there are ways of cutting down on the risks. My garden doesn't have a pond any more, but it's not child-proof either since there are no gates. So, my grandson is never out there by himself, although he is nearly four. Since a small child can drown very quickly in just a few inches of water, leaving a two-year-old, even for 30 seconds on their own by a pool is a risk that I wouldn't take.

Thirty seconds out of the sight of an adult very much depends on the context. That length of time on their own in, perhaps, their own bedroom where risks have been assessed and the room is fairly safe, is very different from 30 seconds by a swimming pool. I would have felt OK leaving my grandson in his own room for a very short while when he was 2 years old because there was a stair gate at the top of the stairs down to the hall and one to the stairs to the attic rooms. I wouldn't have left him on his own in my garden, with or without a pond.

I don't think I have missed any point. Just won't be joining in with a judgemental post till I am sure of the facts.

You did make this comment:

The message that I am getting from this thread is that no toddler should be left for even 30 seconds out of the sight of an adult.

But that is definitely not the point. The point is context.

A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil, investigating the death, said: 'It appears the mother went inside the house to attend to the young boy, and when she went back outside she found the girl's body floating in the water.

AnnaEsse wrote:Lifeisforliving, you made a silly, generalised point about posters not leaving any toddler out of their sight for more than 30 seconds, which is not what anyone is saying.

We have been told that:

A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil, investigating the death, said: 'It appears the mother went inside the house to attend to the young boy, and when she went back outside she found the girl's body floating in the water.

Now, the comment that I and others are making here is that we would not leave a child of two years old alone for any length of time by a swimming pool. That is a matter of personal opinion and quite valid. You haven't actually expressed an opinion other than to make value judgments on those of others. Would you have left the little girl by the pool of taken her indoors with you? Easy question: would you leave a two-year-old on their own beside a swimming pool?