A three-year-old boy died Friday afternoon after drowning in a neighbor’s koi pond in Prairie City, according to the McDonough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies, along with the Bushnell-Prairie City Fire Department and Lifeguard Ambulance, responded to an address on North Cadwalader Street for an unresponsive juvenile male.
The child was playing outside with his siblings and neighbor children when he went missing. A neighbor who lives next door to the family’s home was working in the yard when he discovered the child face-down in his koi pond. The neighbor pulled the child out, began CPR, and called 911. At the same time, the child’s mother called 911 to report her child was missing.
Emergency responders arrived within minutes. The child was pronounced dead at 5:24 p.m. Friday, March 20, at McDonough District Hospital, according to McDonough County Coroner Eric Jameson.
The McDonough County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
