Drowning Boy (Photo : Weibo)
The number of Chinese children killed or injured because the parents or adult companions were too busy texting or fiddling with the mobile phone keeps on growing. The latest victim in a four-year-old boy in a swimming pool in Xiangyang, Shaanxi Province, while his mother was busy texting with her body turned back from the child.
On Jan. 3, the mother, six-year-old daughter and four-year-old son went to the “Spa World” poll. They were about to leave the resort when Xiao, the mother, was alarmed to discovered her son was not in the pool’s shallow end, What’s on Weibo reported.
Bottom of the Pool
She sought help from the resort’s staff. After about 60 minutes, a staff founder her son on the bottom of the pool, already dead by drowning. A check at the security cameras showed Xiao was using her mobile phone and too busy to notice her son drowning. The boy was later found at a depth of 1.1 metres, near the deep end of 1.3 meters.
However, it appears the negligence is not just on the part of the smartphone-addicted mother but also the spa because no one seems to be monitoring the security cameras. One netizen pointed out that the child could have been saved. Other netizens asked about the lack of lifeguards and warning signs.
Who Is Accountable?
Some people believe the establishment could be held accountable for the accident. But many netizens the bigger responsibility belongs to the mother whom some suggested being punished for her negligence.
In November, another child was hit by an SUV because the toddler ran into the blind side of a vehicle while the mother was a few steps behind using her phone. In 2015, a Chinese woman fell to her death because she was busy using phone while walking, unaware she was veering toward an open canal.
