A 4-year-old boy drowned Monday at Rainbow Beach on the island’s west end, the V.I. Police Department reported.
According to the police, the child’s mother told responding officers the boy had been playing in the water, unattended, while she’d been seeing to the needs of her younger child. She said she saw a commotion and someone approached her telling her that the boy had drowned.
A worker for a nearby business told officers he’d seen the body of a child floating in the water and went to see if the child was OK. As he reached the child, he saw that the toddler was floating face down, was unresponsive and foaming from the mouth. He then immediately began to perform CPR until the rescue unit arrived.
When VIPD officers arrived they found members of St. Croix Rescue and the V.I. Fire Department administering CPR to the boy.
The body of the toddler was transported to the Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:20 p.m.