Toddler drowns in bucket

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 6

Toddler drowns in bucket

PA Wellington The drowning of a toddler in a bucket in the laundry of a Miramar house on Tuesday evening emphasised the need for big containers of liquid to be kept out of reach of toddlers, said the police. The boy, aged 17 months, died after falling into a nappy bucket full of water. Sergeant Mary Ann Kelly, of Wellington’s Taranaki Street police inquiry office, said big buckets could hold up to 22 litres of water, and unless securely covered when left on floors were

death-traps for toddlers. The police declined to give the boy’s name, at the request of bis parents. “They are absolutely distraught — but they thought that if any good can come from publicity about the accident, all the better” Sergeant Kelly said. Similar drownings involving nappy buckets had happened in the past, but with new parents “coming along all the time” it was important to repeat warnings. ( Seageant Kelly said it was probably best to keep full buckets in laundry

tubs, or at least out of reach. If they had to be kept on the floor, a strong, immovable lid was necessary. Big buckets held too much water for a toddler to be able to topple them over if trapped inside. f “We all know about the dangers of swimming pools,” said Sergeant “But it is important that parents realise how dangerous it is to leave any sizeable container of fluid — not only nappy buckets — round the house where young children can get at them.”