Yahoo Finance Boy, 6, stuck in terrifying position in tangled rope swing
Rescue crews have responded to a little boy trapped upside down after a mishap during an afternoon swim.
The six-year-old was using a rope swing over a dam at the Patapsco Valley State Park, west of Baltimore in the US state of Maryland, on Wednesday afternoon, WBAL-TV reported.
Things went wrong just before 3.45pm (local time) and the child became stuck upside down in a terrifying position, with his head partially submerged in the water.
The boy was still able to breathe, with a witness helping to keep his head above water until a rescue team arrived.
Crews from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services arrived and freed him from his unfortunate position.
Despite the ordeal, the boy didn’t require hospital treatment and is reportedly recovering well.
Rescuers said the boy now “has a story to tell his friends”.
Terrifying incident reminder to be vigilant
The disturbing incident should be a reminder to parents and carers about the importance of being vigilant when children are in the water.
Drowning was the cause of 276 Australian deaths last year, former Olympic swim coach Laurie Lawrence told Yahoo News Australia.
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Mr Lawrence encouraged carers to familiarise themselves with his Kids Alive guidelines, which included always supervising children around water, and learning how to resuscitate them.
“If you can perform CPR at the point of emersion, then kids are 80 per cent more likely to survive a near-drowning experience,” he said.
“If you’ve got a kid that’s a climber, then it’s even more imperative that they learn to swim.”
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