THE Johannesburg Emergency Management Service on Sunday said it had attended to three drownings involving children in the last four days. Two of the children died and another was discharged from hospital after observation. The latest victim was a six-year-old child who went swimming with friends in the pool of the complex where they stayed in Weltevreden Park north-west of Johannesburg. “The other children left the pool after some time and presumed that their young friend had already left. When the distraught family and residents discovered that he was missing they first searched the grounds and other homes before finding the child in the swimming pool,” the EMS said in a statement. “Officers from the complex’s security firm started CPR, until paramedics arrived and declared the patient dead after attempting to revive the child.” EMS public information officer Malcolm Midgley said unprotected swimming pools and unsupervised children are a potentially fatal combination. “Too many children die each year, winter and summer because of this.” – Sapa
THEY SAID IT
‘But the dogs were looking at him funny.’
– White House representative Ari Fleischer, recounting how President George Gush fainted after choking on a pretzel
“Happily the Danish tradition is that people stay perched on their tree until they fall off, like a bird.”
– Danish Prince Frederik, heir to the throne, remarking on the Danish tradition of lengthy rule