Welsh toddler drowns in the bath after mum left her alone for a ‘very short time’

Her mum desperately tried to resuscitate her.

A 22-month-old girl has died in a drowning accident in Wales. Her death was ruled as accidental during an inquest this week. Mia Oliver was playing in the bath when her mum left her for "a very short time" to fetch a towel. According to North Wales Live, the mum was giving her baby girl a bubble bath at their home in January 2020. Joely Eastham-Jones explained that her daughter wanted to continue playing with the bubbles so she quickly went to get a clean towel for her daughter in the bedroom. Coroner John Gittins told the court: "She could hear Mia talking and singing in the bath next door. She shouted her (Mia's) name to confirm she was there. Then a pink brush she had been playing with banged on the side of the bath." Her mum was gone for "one minute plus by her mother." The mum rushed in to find her daughter "lying face down in the water." "She lifted her out. She was pink and floppy and not breathing," Gittins added. "She was left for a very, very short time by her mother in the bath, and sadly the circumstances which occurred thereafter were those which resulted in her passing. The mum performed CPR four or five times. Her daughter then coughed up water and sick. Emergency services rushed the little girl to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and then transported her to Royal Stoke University Hospital (RSUH) in Stoke-on-Trent. Despite their best efforts, the doctors could not save Mia. She passed away the next day, January 18. A post-mortem revealed the infant died of organ failure, consistent with drowning. The news comes after a safety expert warned parents of the dangers of baby baths. Child Accident Prevention Trust CEO, Katrina Phillips urged parents to practice extreme caution during bathtime. "It's easy to assume they're safe for a few seconds," she told The Sun. Phillips stressed that monitoring your baby during every second of bath time is the best way to protect them.