Tuesday, November 8, 2011

2 Gisborne Boy Found Dead Resulting from Drowning Accident

Two bodies of little boys were found floating by the teenager girl at the Taruheru river. It was the body of the 2 – year old boy and 3 - year old boy. As a prompt response to what she had seen, the girl run and yells to ask for help from the people nearby the area.

According to the mother of the 2 – year old boy, the two boys were cousins. She realized that the two boys were missing 15 minutes later, therefore, she started searching for them. But it was too late. The mother was surprised when her extended family gathered in their house to bring her the bad news as well as to support her.  The bad news is that the two boys were found face – down in the river.

Investigation revealed that at around 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the two boys went out their house, played at the reserve on Atkinson St. in Gisborne and then climbed down the bank to the Taruheru river.

When the rescuers found the body of the two boys, they first thought that the 3 – year old boy was already dead, but soon they realized that it was just unconscious, so, they performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the boy.

Both boys were brought to the hospital in Auckland and doctors tried to survive the 2 – year old boy, unfortunately all their efforts was to no avail. The younger boy is already dead while the 3 – year old one is still in the intensive care and was expected to recover soon.

The mother of the 2 – year old boy is in deep sorrow and the father of the 3 – year old boy still remains in her son’s side while waiting for the boy to recover from the drowning accident.

It’s really a tragic accident involving the two poor boys. It’s absolutely a traumatic experience for the 3 – year old boy who survived from that drowning accident.

This year, 103 deaths resulting from drowning has been recorded for the whole. The local council is held liable for most drowning accidents. The family claims that if only a fence had been set up in proper place at the edge of the reserve to avoid children climbing down the river and to stop the increasing numbers of drowning accidents in the area. It was still last year when the Atkinson St. neighborhood has requested the local council to place a fence along the river side by the reserve but nothing happened.

Now, the Water Safety New Zealand is planning a new safety campaign aiming Pacific Islanders after the consecutive drowning accidents for the past two years.