FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two children and a man drowned Thursday in a backyard pool in Hollywood, police said.
Shortly after 3:30 p.m., police were called to a home in the 700 block of South Highland Drive, a spokesperson for the department said.
All three were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where they died. The children were ages 5 and 2. No additional information about the man was released.
In 2021, 97 children in Florida unintentionally drowned and died, according to statistics from the Department of Children and Families. Children age 3 and younger made up 68% of those deaths, the data says.
The most recent data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says, on average, 78% of nonfatal drowning injuries treated in emergency rooms each year from 2018 through 2020 involved children younger than age 5.
Safety guidelines for swimming pool barriers from the commission say the best way to prevent accidental drownings at home pools is by installing barriers such as walls, gates, fences and pool covers to deter children from getting into them.
Those barriers need to be the appropriate sizes — children can climb under or over them if the barriers are too short. Barriers should completely surround the pool, be at least 48 inches above the ground, should not have openings bigger than 4 inches and gates should have locks or latches, the guidelines say.
For above-ground pools, the guidelines recommend any ladder or steps be secured or be removable and be surrounded by a barrier.
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