Child dies after disappearing from B.C. daycare

MISSION, B.C. A 23-month-old child has died in Mission, B.C., after she was reported missing from a daycare and found unresponsive in a swimming pool at a neighbouring property.

The RCMP say they were called by the owner of the daycare at about 4:40 p.m. on Wednesday.

“The loss of a loved one is always an extremely difficult time, but it touches everyone much harder when it is a child, and our thoughts go out to the family, and all of those involved,” Staff Sgt. Steve Crawford said in a news release Thursday.

The caller estimated it has been about 10 minutes since the girl was last seen, RCMP said.

After a search of the daycare and neighbouring properties, police found the girl unresponsive in a large inground swimming pool.

After resuscitation efforts that included the use of a portable defibrillator carried by police, the girl was rushed to Mission Memorial Hospital, where the Mounties say she was pronounced dead.

The coroner’s service and Fraser Health say they are also investigating the girl’s death.

Fraser Health spokesperson Tasleem Juma said in an emailed statement that the agency immediately suspended the licence for Melissa’s Bright Beginnings Childcare Center.

The daycare manager identified in an inspection report did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Juma said the facility was licensed in September 2017. A routine first inspection was done Jan. 10, which found several violations under regulations governing in-home daycares for children of multiple ages. The report gave the licensee up to eight days to take corrective action.

Following the inspection, the daycare followed up in writing confirming that it had addressed all the violations, Juma said.