Children's Safety Zone

Police say a 6-month-old Phoenix boy left alone in a bathtub remains in critical condition Thursday night.

Itwas earlier reported that the child had died, but at 8 p.m. PhoenixPolice Sgt. Tommy Thompson said the child was still alive.

PhoenixFire Department spokesman Jonathan Jacobs said the infant was leftin the bathtub with the water running for up to five minutes while hismother left the room to check her e-mail.

Thompson said thechild likes to play in the water with the drain open, but somehow thedrain stopper apparently activated and the tub filled with water. Hesaid the child was found under water.

When the boy’s mother returned she reportedly grabbed her son and ran outside crying “my baby drowned.”

Jacobs said there were two workers doing renovations nearby and one of them performed CPR on the child.

“Shewas shaking and screaming,” said Jose Salgado, the worker who assistedthe boy. “I said, ‘Give me the baby.’ I’m still shaking. You don’t getused to a baby drowning.”

The child was not breathing whenfirefighters arrived at the apartment complex near 7th Street andGreenway Parkway around 1:30 p.m.

The boy was transported to Phoenix Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Connie Treni, who lives downstairs from the family, said the boy always appeared to be well cared for.

“Very cute, happy little baby,” she said. “He never appeared to be neglected.”

Jacobs said the incident was a preventable tragedy.

“Anythingcan look really simple from the outside,” he said. “They are horribleaccidents that are unforgiving and where you don’t have a lot of time.”

It is unclear if the woman will faces charges.

A 5-year-old boy nearly drowned at a central Phoenix community pool when he slipped under water, undetected by adults nearby, authorities said.

Emergency crews responded to a neighborhood near Southern and 27th avenues around 8:30 p.m. and found the boy crying when they arrived, said Capt. Tony Mure of the Phoenix Fire Department.

Mure said a person performed CPR on the boy before they got to the scene, and it was undetermined how long the child was under. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center for further treatment; his identity and condition were not immediately available.

Authorities said there were adults and other children in the pool when the child went under. It marked at least the third water incident involving children that Phoenix Fire has responded to in the last seven days.

“Every one of these drownings is preventable,” Mure said. He said the best protection against child drownings is adult supervision.

“You see a common pattern,” Mure said. “One pattern is people don’t pay attention.”