Tragedy struck a Bodden Town family over the weekend as their 4-year-old son died in an apparent drowning accident.
The boy drowned Saturday afternoon in the district of Bodden Town after falling into a brackish water pond located in back of a neighbourhood development.
The child – identified by local residents as Aidan Cupid – was with a group of three other children, including his older sister, when the incident happened around 1.30pm Saturday.
According to residents in the Silver Thatch Estates subdivision off Minzett Drive in the Northward area, the group of children had walked through the neighbourhood to an undeveloped section that contains several high dirt mounds and a small brackish water pond.
It was not immediately clear what happened, but residents said it appeared the boy either slipped from one of the marl slopes, or jumped, into the water. After making attempts to rescue him themselves, his older sister and the other two children ran from door-to-door in the neighbourhood requesting help from adults.
One of them was Greg McLaughlin, who lives in the last house on Minzett Drive before the undeveloped portion of the neighbourhood.
“I was just laying on the couch asleep, when this girl came running and said ‘somebody’s drowning out there’,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “It’s really dark in the water and it’s deep out there, I couldn’t see in the water.”
Mr. McLaughlin and another man, Jerad Ebanks, tried to find the boy for nearly half an hour.
“I’m a very good swimmer, but I just kept going down and down and a lot of other guys came after that, and we couldn’t find him,” Mr. McLaughlin said.
Royal Cayman Islands Police Service officers were called to the scene, along with firefighters and a marine unit dive crew. Eventually the dive crew located the boy, but by then it was too late.
“I felt really bad that I couldn’t help him,” Mr. McLaughlin said.
There was no fence around the undeveloped area of the neighbourhood, which some residents reported had been undergoing some blasting work in recent weeks.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service released the following statement on the incident: “Saturday, 18 February, 2012, about 1.50pm emergency responders comprising of the fire department, emergency medical services, police uniform section and police marine section attended a report of a 4-year-old child missing in a body of water located at Minzett Drive, Northward, Bodden Town.
“After a short search, the child was recovered in the body of water. Residents of the area also assisted in the search,” the statement read. “Emergency services personnel transported the unconscious child to the Cayman Islands Hospital where death was pronounced. An officer from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has been assigned as a liaison officer for the family during their loss. The RCIPS extends condolences to the bereaved family.”
Police said the incident remains under investigation and details will be released in due course.