A three-year-old child in north-west China nearly drowned after he flipped over his rubber ring and was left struggling underwater for at least two minutes.
Neither of the two instructors at the children’s pool noticed the boy immersed in the water upside down despite standing right next to him.
The child was finally removed from the pool after one of the teachers noticed his motionless body. He remains under intensive care in hospital.
A three-year-old child (circled) in north-west China nearly drowned after he flipped over his rubber ring and was left struggling underwater for at least two minutes in the pool
Neither of the two instructors at the children’s pool noticed the boy immersed in the water upside down despite standing right next to the child. He was left underwater for two minutes
The boy was taking part in a swimming lesson at a kindergarten in Zhangjiakou city, Hebei province when the accident happened.
Surveillance footage of the horrifying incident shows the boy wearing an inflatable ring playing in the pool among nine other classmates.
He then accidentally flips backwards, plunging his head underwater.
The boy was seen desperately to stay afloat, wriggling his legs in the air and trying to flip his ring back.
His teacher, who was also in the pool, was seen attending to another student and did not notice the drowning child. It did not occur to the other children who were beside him that something was wrong with their friend.
After struggling in vain for about 40 seconds, the child eventually ran out of breath and passed out. He was seen floating motionless at one end of the pool.
The boy was seen desperately to stay afloat, wriggling his legs and trying to flip his ring back
Nearly half a minute had passed before the boy was finally discovered by his shocked teachers. When he was lifted out of the water, the boy was not breathing
Nearly half a minute had passed before the boy was finally discovered by his shocked teachers.
When he was lifted out of the water, the little boy was not breathing and his faced had turned purple, according to Hebei Youth Daily.
He was immediately taken to hospital where doctors fortunately saved him.
The incident sparked outrage among net users – many of whom are parents themselves.
‘The kindergarten should be held responsible for this incident. The child could have died,’ one user commented.
‘The accident could have caused permanent brain damage to the boy! The teachers’ actions are just unacceptable,’ another said.
Drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children aged one to 14 years old in China, according to a Global report on drowning commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014.
Almost twice as many children aged between five and 14 die in the country from drowning than traffic accidents, it stated.