Parents are urged not to take their eyes off their children around water following the death of a toddler in a backyard pool at his Melton South home last week.
Two-year-old Elijah Meldrum was found in a pool at a Moorshead Street home, just before 1.30pm on Monday, September 14.
Elijah’s mother attempted to revive him, but was not successful. The family said the pool gate didn’t lock properly and was flimsy.
The toddler’s death came on the eve of the release of Royal Life Saving Australia’s national drowning report for 2014/15, which shows a 30 per cent increase in drowning deaths in children under the age of four.
Almost one in 10 drowning deaths involved children, and more than half of those deaths were due to them falling into water.
Life Saving Victoria principal research associate Bernadette Matthews said the death of Elijah was tragic, and she urged parents to keep their young ones within arm’s reach.
“We really feel for the family and everyone, including those from the emergency services,” Dr Matthews said. “Drowning really affects so many people. We’re really urging people to supervise their children around the water.”
Parents should ensure gates around family pools are always locked, and they also need to learn how to do CPR, Dr Matthews said.
And while coastal drownings made up almost 50 per cent of deaths, a third of drownings happened in inland waterways, such as rivers, creeks, streams, lakes and dams.
“[Inland waterways] can be cold, have strong currents and soft edges,” Dr Matthews said.
“So you really need to check with locals about the conditions, and also to remember conditions can change.”
The report found men made up 90 per cent of all fatal and non-fatal drownings in the past year. There were 39 drownings in Victoria in the last year, an increase on previous years.
