Mother glued to phone leaves drowning daughter struggling

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Mother glued to phone leaves drowning daughter struggling

The child almost drowned as her mother was busy texting on her phone.

By Web Report

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Published: Fri 31 Aug 2018, 11:16 AM

Last updated: Fri 31 Aug 2018, 2:03 PM

A one-year-old girl in south-east China who was celebrating her first birthday in an infant's pool is now fighting for her life after she almost drowned as her mother was busy texting on her phone.  
The girl, nicknamed Xiaoai, who was playing in a pool at a leisure centre in Fuzhou city, Fujian province, had accidentally slipped out of her floating ring and struggled underwater for almost a minute before she was spotted by her horrified mother. 
Surveillance footage of the incident that occurred on July 31, shows the little Xiaoai playing in the pool at about 5:00 pm before flipping sideways and plunging her head underwater. Although the pool was just 107 square foot, the mother who was standing right next to the girl did not notice her struggling daughter for over a minute. 
The footage also shows another child in the pool who noticed the drowning girl and attempted to get the attention of the mother, but the clueless woman waved him off. The woman later said she turned her back on her child for about a minute or two to respond to text messages from her friend, Daily Mail quoted Haixia Metro reports.   
Xiaoai was completely submerged for almost a minute and a half, wriggling her legs weakly underwater, before her mother pulled her out of water and attempted CPR before leaving the premises. Moreover, when the incident occurred the staff members of the centre were away to receive a goods delivery and the mother reached Fujian Provincial Hospital 20 minutes later. Xiaoai did not have a heartbeat and was not breathing and her face had turned purple, according to the report citing Dr Lin Shuqin.  
It took another 20 minutes of emergency rescue for the doctors who were able to get the toddler's heart beating again and transported her to intensive care unit. Xiaoai still has not regained consciousness and remained in critical condition. The manger of the infant pool has offered to cover part of the girl's medical expenses.  
In a similar incident earlier this week, a three-year-old boy in north-west China's Hebei province nearly drowned after struggling underwater for at least two minutes.


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