Encinitas Girl, 4, Drowns in Pool
A 4-year-old Encinitas girl died Saturday, an apparent drowning victim, after losing consciousness while playing in shallow water in a community pool, authorities said.
The victim was identified as Elizabeth Mealy.
The girl was playing in three feet of water in an Encinitas pool when she began to drown about 10:30 a.m., possibly after she hit her head on the bottom, said a spokesman for the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office. Her mother was nearby, the spokesman said.
Efforts to revive the girl were unsuccessful, and she succumbed about an hour later at Scripps Memorial Hospital.
She was the 10th youth age 14 or under to die because of an apparent drowning in San Diego County thus far in 1990, said Mark Morelli, a spokesman for Children’s Hospital.
Morelli said the number of drownings and near-drownings among area children has increased but that he does not know the reason.
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