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.
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