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March 29, 2024

2 children dead in separate drowning incidents in Southern Nevada

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Lake Mohave as seen from Searchlight, Nevada.

Updated Thursday, July 5, 2018 | 9:50 a.m.

Two children have died in apparent drowning incidents at Southern Nevada locations in the past 24 hours, officials said today.

A teenage boy died Tuesday night after he was rescued from a body of water at Lake Mohave, and a 3-year-old boy was pulled from a central Las Vegas pool this morning, according to Metro Police and the National Park Service.

Crews responded about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday to Cabinsite Cove on Lake Mohave, where bystanders had brought a teenager to shore, officials said. He died at a Las Vegas hospital.

Apparently, the boy, who was not wearing a life jacket, was seen having a hard time propelling himself toward a buoy when he went underwater, witnesses told first responders. Bystanders performed CPR before medics arrived.

The Clark County Coroner's Office identified the boy as 16-year-old Jonathon Gabriel James of Imperial Beach, Calif. Lake Mead National Recreation Area spokeswoman Christie Vanover said the death was being investigated as a possible drowning.

In Las Vegas, the 3-year-old boy drowned in a neighbor’s pool in a neighborhood near Lindell Road and Twain Avenue, Metro Lt. Ailee Burnett said. It wasn’t immediately clear how he made it inside the pool, and further details were not available.

Drowning is the leading cause of “unintentional death” in children under age 4; the second among children 5 to 14 years old, according to the most recent federal data. That means that on average, roughly 350 children under age15 drown in pools and spas in the United States, according to the data. Six children died in Nevada in 2016.

Metro’s Spring Valley Area Command took to Twitter to remind the public of pool safety, saying “Do you know the ABCD’s of pool safety? Unfortunately, this morning a child was found drowning and unsupervised in a residential pool.”

The account also shared a Metro public service announcement video in which Sgt. Jesse Roybal reiterates preventative measures, including:

• Children should be supervised by adults at all times because “it only takes a few seconds for a pool accident to happen.”

• Pool owners are asked to consider installing barriers that self-close and self-lock around the bodies of water.

• It is recommended that parents provide swimming lessons for children, and CPR lessons for themselves. “That safety skill just might be the important tool that you need to help somebody’s life.”

• Swimmers and guardians should be aware of where life preservers, lifeguards and emergency phones are located at all times, Roybal said, noting that floating, training devices should also be utilized.