Child drowns in septic tank

Dec 22, 2009 News

By Latoya Giles
The quite community of South Better Hope was yesterday plunged into a state of shock and disbelief after one its youngest residents died.
Five-year-old Thaddeus Samuels of 156 South Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, was found lying face down in a septic tank. The septic tank is located at the back of his house; the opening is merely covered with a piece of plywood.

Dead: Thaddeus Samuels

Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday was the dead child’s cousin, Lawrence McKenzie, who said that the family discovered that the child was missing shortly after 9:00 hours yesterday. The child was rushed to the hospital one hour later.
He explained that the child was playing in the house while his mother, Allison Best, was cleaning the house.
“He had a whistle blowing and it was annoying me a little and I was making a joke that I was going to beat him,” the cousin remembered.
He said that the child was very energetic and was also playing in unusual places around the yard.
McKenzie further explained that his brother had heard something rattling in the backyard but took it for nothing.
“My brother heard the noise but really didn’t take it for nothing,” McKenzie explained. The brother said that he thought that it was one of the many dogs which the family had. The man said that someone began calling for the little child and got no response, which the household found strange.
The child would normally run breathlessly towards whoever was calling him. The family immediately began combing the entire house for the lad. “We looked everywhere but he was not inside the house”.
The cousin said that he went outside in the back yard and saw that the plywood which would normally cover the septic tank was missing.
The child’s relatives came to the conclusion that he must have fallen into the septic tank. The child’s grandfather was the one who pushed his hands into the septic tank found the child. The relatives washed off the child’s skin and immediately began performing CPR.
The lad began coughing up some of the water, and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The child’s relatives began screaming hysterically over the sudden loss.
At the child’s home yesterday, neighbours gathered to offer their condolences. Yesterday’s incident was reminiscent of one which happened about three years ago when a little child at Tucville fell into a GWI sewerage tank.