Toddler Slowly Drowns in Pool as Mom Plays With Her Phone a Few Feet Away

In a harrowing short clip that went viral on Chinese social media, a mom from China was seen fiddling with her smartphone while her 4-year-old son tragically drowned in a pool just a couple of feet away from her.

During the scene captured by the security camera of a resort in Xianyang, Shaanxi province, the mother had her back turned to her son who was struggling to fight for his life in the water. The footage shows the boy scrambling for breath in the water for 3 minutes before finally drowning.

The pool, which has a shallow end for kids measuring 30 cm, around 1 foot, also has deeper sections for adults. According to Shanghaiist, the boy reportedly drowned at the 1.1-meter (3.6 feet) area.

Even the other swimmers around the pool failed to notice that the boy was splashing around in desperation. When the mom finally decided to place her phone away to check on her son, she searched in the wrong direction and failed to find him on time.

After asking the resort employees for help, the boy’s body was found at the bottom of the swimming pool following a search that lasted for about half an hour.