2-year-old girl pulled from pool in Connecticut dies

A 2-year-old girl who was placed on life support after she was pulled from a Connecticut pool has died, Connecticut police report.

The toddler died on Sunday night at Yale New Haven Hospital, said Bridgeport, Connecticut, Police Chief Armando Perez.

The child was rescued from a pool at a Bridgeport home by her mother around 2:30 p.m. on Friday and the mother performed CPR until first responders arrived, police said.
    
The drowning appeared to have been an accident, Perez said Friday.

The toddler's death is a sobering reminder to parents and other adults caring for children in the vicinity of a pool or other body of water -- even a bathtub -- of the risk of drowning.

Drowning is a leading cause of death among children, including babies and toddlers. Most infant drownings occur in bathtubs and buckets, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Toddlers and older children can drown in pools, ponds, rivers, and lakes. Even one inch of water can lead to a drowning. Children with mental and physical disabilities, and those with seizure disorders, are especially vulnerable.

Other water safety measures recommended by the AAP:

• Home swimming pools should be surrounded by a fence that prevents a child from getting to the pool from the house, at least a four-foot-high, nonclimbable, four-sided fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate. 
  

• Parents, caregivers, and pool owners should know CPR and keep a telephone nearby when children are swimming.
  

• Life preservers, life jackets and a shepherd's crook should be kept at poolside.
  

• Keep toys away from the pool when the pool is not in use.
  
• Empty blow-up pools after each use.
  
• No tricycles or other riding toys at poolside.
  
• No electrical appliances near the pool.
  
• No diving in a pool that is not deep enough.
  
• No running on the pool deck.