Qld: Queensland toddlers drowned, choked and maimed

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2000
Qld: Queensland toddlers drowned, choked and maimed

By Rosemary Desmond

BRISBANE, Aug 23 AAP - Two toddlers died and another was maimed by a ride-on mower
in a spate of tragic accidents in Queensland over the past two days.

A one-year-old boy, whose head became trapped under a toilet seat yesterday afternoon,
died in hospital today.

Clay Barlow was rushed to hospital after the accident on a property near the central
Queensland town of Capella, said Senior Constable Tim Littleton of Capella police.

At around 4pm, Clay had apparently wandered into the toilet, lifted the seat and stuck
his head over the edge of the bowl, Senior Const. Littleton said.

The seat came down, trapping his neck under it and almost choked him, Snr Const. Littleton said.

"His weight fell back down and he was left hanging up there."

Clay was found a short while later by his four-year-old brother who raised the alarm.

The family tried to resuscitate him and a rescue helicopter was summoned to airlift
Clay to Emerald Hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman said he died there this morning.

In another incident, an 18-month-old boy, whose name has not been released, was run
over by a mower at about 4.15pm yesterday on a property in Racecourse, an outer suburb
of the north Queensland city of Mackay.

Area manager of Queensland Ambulance Service, Peter Warrener, said ambulance officers
were able to stem the flow of blood at the scene before the toddler was rushed to Mackay
Base Hospital in a critical condition.

His leg, partially amputated below the knee, was packed in ice in the hope that microsurgeons
could reattach it.

"It wasn't fully off. There were parts attached, in a simple sense," Mr Warrener said.

A spokeswoman for Mackay Hospital said the boy was in a stable condition today after
undergoing surgery last night.

She refused to say whether the operation to reattach the leg was a success and would
release no other details at the request of the child's family.

Mr Warrener said the child's mother was present at the time of the accident, but details
of how it happened and who was driving the mower remained sketchy.

On Monday, two-year-old Hayden Goodwill wandered away from his home at Leyburn, near
Millmerran, on the Darling Downs.

He was found floating face down under a tree in a nearby waterhole.

Attempts to revive him failed.

AAP rad/sc mg

KEYWORD: TODDLERS (TAKES IN TOILET)

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