RCMP are trying to piece together how a toddler wandered away from a daycare in Mission B.C. and died in a backyard pool.
It happened Wednesday afternoon on Hawthorne Avenue.
The child, just under two years old, was reported missing from the home-based daycare around 4:30 p.m. and was later found unresponsive in the neighbour’s pool.
The daycare and the home with the pool are being investigated.
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The Ministry of Children and Family Development is also investigating.
“There are a number of investigations ongoing, that’s my understanding,” says Katrine Conroy, the B.C. Children and Family Development Minister. “We wait and see what happens with those. I can’t talk to specifics of any investigation as it pertains to the ministry.”
“But I can just say that my heart goes out to that family and what they’re going through.”
A neighbour told Global News it is a mystery how the little girl gained access to the backyard with the pool.
“They do have a fence that’s quite tall, and bushes and whatnot, so I doubt the child would climb there,” says Mitsuko Clysdale. “But the gate is quite tall as well, and I know it has a good lock and is quite secure. So my assumption is maybe it was unlocked.”
— With files from Estefania Duran, Jennifer Palma and Jill Bennett
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