A 4-year-old who was briefly left unsupervised at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has drowned in Lake Powell, according to park officials.
The unidentified child had been playing on a beach in Warm Creek Bay on Monday evening. At 6:45 p.m. park dispatch received a 911 call from a houseboat in the bay. The caller stated that the boy had just been retrieved from shallow water and was unresponsive. A nurse on the houseboat immediately started CPR, the park said in a release.
Park rangers and a helicopter from Classic Lifeguard were on scene within 18 minutes of the 911 call and continued lifesaving efforts. The child was transported by helicopter to Page Hospital, but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
The child had been playing on the beach with other children from the houseboat. He was not wearing a life jacket, and had been left unattended only for several minutes, park officials said. It is unclear how he ended up in the water.
Comments
This is a sobering reminder that children loose their lives at National Park Units far too often. Sadly we see this completely preventable accident played out over and over. How can we get these parents/guardians out of the unaware state and into the aware state that will allow them to recognize the incredible risk they assume for their child when they choose not to put a life jacket on them? For the most part these are good people who quite simply failed to recognize the threat. Letting your children play in, on or near open bodies of water without a life jacket is incredibly risky period! If they get in trouble you have very little time to save them. I am amazed to see how many people choose to do this and am 100% convinced that if they understood the consequence was death they would choose to put a life jacket on their child. My heart goes out to the rescuers who have to respond to this and to the families who will be changed forever.