Baby Drowns in Spa, Toddler Left Hospitalized

Accidents: First incident claims life of Canoga Park infant. Later, a child is pulled from a Reseda pool.

An infant died and a toddler was in extremely critical condition Thursday in two separate back yard water accidents in the West Valley, authorities said.

At 4:50 p.m., a 13-month-old boy drowned in a spa behind his family’s house in the 22000 block of Covello Street in Canoga Park, according to Sgt. Dan Mastro of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The boy was rushed to West Hills Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“The boy accidentally got into the gated pool area,” Mastro said. “When the parents frantically went looking for him, they found him in the Jacuzzi a few minutes later.”

Mastro said the boy’s father was in the garage with the boy’s sibling when the accident occurred.

“This tragically shows that you really have to be with young children every second and any gates (around the pool) have to be locked and inaccessible to them,” Mastro said.

Nearly an hour later, an 18-month-old girl was found submerged in a pool in the 19000 block of Cantlay Street in Reseda. She was underwater for about five minutes.

Rescuers were able to get her pulse going after performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and she was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center in extremely critical condition, Collis said.