A woman and her 5-year old son drowned in a backyard pool. According to Emmanuel Akrong Sr. he tried to help his son. He also attempted to lift his wife out of the water but cannot manage to do it on his own.
Ozzy Anjum, a next-door neighbor heard Akrong shouting for help. Anjum rushed to help by running through the front door and out to the pool area. He saw the young boy lying on the deck unresponsive while the wife was still in the water, facing down. He attempted to perform CPR on the boy and then jumped into the pool with another neighbor to get the wife.
Unforeseen tragedy
They dragged her out of the water and flipped her on the deck. The paramedics and police arrived and took over.
Solomon was transported to a healthcare facility where she was declared dead early Sunday morning. The young boy was also announced dead upon arrival.
According to Akron, the pool which was installed by the previous owner had been emptied and they decided to close it. The pool contained some rain water, around 2 feet deep, only reaching up to his knees. He speculates that his son was walking near the pool, fell in and his wife attempted to rescue the child.
According to Barbara Byers, The Lifesaving Society’s public education director, people can drown even with a small amount of water. It can occur in just 20 seconds. As a safety precaution, houses with swimming pools must utilize fences, locks and other devices to limit access to water, especially since children see pools as places they want to enter and easily drawn to them.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a course on first aid and CPR and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/drowning-treatment
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/qa/what-is-cardiopulmonary-resuscitationcpr