TODDLER DROWNS IN CITY LAKE

Frantic Effort to Save 15-month-olD

A toddler has died after being pulled from the waters of Lake Bonaventure.

EMS was called to the southeast community of Lake Bonaventure around 11 a.m. Tuesday for reports of an unresponsive child in a body of water.

Nate Pike, a public education officer with EMS, said the child was taken to hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.

Witnesses said someone was performing CPR on the child in front of a home on Lake Placid Drive S.E. in the community of Lake Bonaventure.

“It was family or neighbours … somebody yelled for help and help came,” fire department spokeswoman Carole Henke said. “CPR was being done on the front lawn of the residence.”

Henke said the child is approximately 15 months old. She couldn’t

Any time that wehaveany small children anywhere near water, they should always be kept within arm’s reach.

confirm how long the child had been in the water.

Bebelyn Del Campo is the nanny of an eight-year-old and four-yearold who live in the community.

The nanny said she is always concerned when the kids go to the water because the lake “is too deep.”

“Everytime we went to the lake we wear life-jackets,” she said. “We don’t allow them (to go) without life-jackets.”

Shera Peggs, who has lived in the community for about seven years, says the couple that live at the home where the incident occurred are “really sweet people” who “have their grandbabies over all the time.”

“I was absolutely devastated because we’d just gotten to know them over the last six months to a year,” she said.

Peggs said she’s been shaken by the incident, noting she’s already nervous around the water.

“It can happen in a second because (the home is) right on the lake, so (the kids) could be standing right next to them and they just step over the dock and go in.”

It’s a reminder to be vigilant of small children, especially near water, Pike said.

“Any time that we have any small children anywhere near water, they should always be kept within arm’s reach,” she said.

“No one ever should go — especially children — should ever go swimming alone. Not even adults should go swimming alone.”