9-month-old baby drowns in tub
Magen David Adom rushes nine-month-old baby from the Bedouin community in the south to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva after drowning in a tub; his death was pronounced several hours later.
A nine-month-old baby from the southern Bedouin community drowned in a tub on Monday. Efforts made to revive the baby by Maden David Adom medics and medical teams at the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead several hours later.
Following the tragedy, Beterem, an organization aimed at promoting child health, released some alarming statistics on the number of children who have died after drowning.
According to the organization, 19 children in Israel had drowned in 2016, and 15 had drowned that in 2015. 141 children have drowned since 2008.
About one third of the child drowning cases were infants, babies or children under the age of four.
In 45% of these cases, the child had drowned while in their home environment. A possible explanation for this is that a young child's head is heavier than many other areas of their body, causing them to fall over when leaning above a body of water, at an age when they are still unable to get themselves out of the situation.
Beterem CEO Orly Silvinger issued a statement following the event. "We have been promoting a child safety project in cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Bedouin diasphora to raise awareness among the community and parents, so that we may bring about a change in the safety culture and prevent tragedies such as this. It's extremely important to know that infants can drown in water as low as five cm, so they cannot be left alone near a bucket or tub. Rather, you must make sure to empty such a container completely."
