Boy, 5, Drowns in Deptford, NJ Backyard Pool

DEPTFORD — A five-year-old boy who drowned in a backyard pool Monday evening is the latest drowning in New Jersey.

The boy went into the pool on Hampshire Drive in Deptford without being noticed by adults present around 6 p.m., according to Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Tom Gilbert. Once they realized he was in the pool they got him out of the pool and tried to revive him.

The boy was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden where he was pronounced dead around 6:40 p.m.

"It appears by our investigation thus far to be a tragic accident," Gilbert said. "There's nothing suspicious."

Gilbert did not disclose if the child lived at the home.

Pool safety can prevent tragedy

Gilbert said that the incident points to the need to be aware of children when near an inground pool. It takes just one step and someone is suddenly in a pool.

"You gotta watch them like a hawk," Gilbert said. "It's the risk you take with an inground pool. You've got to be really, really careful. It can happen so quick."

The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs offered pool safety tips from The American Academy of Pediatrics including:

• All caregivers should learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (C.P.R.). Drowning victims who are rescued from the water need C.P.R. immediately before the paramedics arrive. It can prevent brain damage and be the difference between life and death.
• Never leave a child alone in or near a pool.
• It is vital that you teach your children never to run around a pool, never push someone else into any body of water and never jump on another person while in the water.
• Children should be taught never to swim alone.
• Keep a phone by the pool, along with rescue equipment, such as a life preserver and a shepherd’s hook–a long pole with a hook at the end.
• Enroll your child in a program that teaches kids how to swim.

Over a dozen people have drowned at New Jersey beaches, indoor pools, lakes and rivers since April. A 14-year-old Elizabeth boy drowned at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Sunday.