Child dies after pulled from lake
Drowning of toddler occurred at West Palm-area apartments.
A child died Tuesday after being pulled from a lake at a suburban West Palm Beach apartment complex, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Sheriff ’s Office had not identified the child beyond the word “toddler.” The death was announced after the child had been taken to a hospital at about 10:30 a.m.
The drowning took place at the Palms West apartments off Quail Lake Drive in the Westgate neighborhood near Okeechobee Boulevard and Military Trail.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue crews were told a child was near the lake behind apartment buildings on the property and had disappeared.
Rescue divers went into the water near where the child was last seen at about 9:30 a.m., Fire Rescue said.
The divers found the child, who was taken to a hospital, Fire Rescue said. The Sheriff ’s Office said the toddler died at the hospital.
The last drowning in Palm Beach County occurred in November 2017. A 3-year-old boy disappeared near the edge of a pond in suburban Boca Raton and authorities discovered the body there.
Preliminary reports found there were five drownings of children under 12 in Palm Beach County last year. Four were 3-year-old children and one was an 18-monthold, said Anna Stewart, manager of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County. She said this number matches previous years.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4, according to the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.
Stewart said she has not yet received any medical examiners reports of children drowning this year.
Of the incidents last year, one took place in a pond, Stewart said. Three occurred in a pool and one in a canal.
Fifteen drownings occurred in Palm Beach County from 2011-16, according to the Drowning Prevention Coalition.
Stewart said drowning and near-drowning incidents are preventable. She said the best way to combat them is increased supervision.
To prevent drownings in canals, ponds and lakes, Stewart said the best method is educating children and adults about the dangers of “dirty water.” She said bacteria and animals can live there, so children must be warned to stay away.
No law requires signs either by lakes or canals on private property, said Robert Santos-Alborna, Palm Beach County’s code enforcement director. Signs around bodies of water are regulated by the South Florida Water Management District, a state agency, he said.