A three-year-old boy died in a horrific accident involving a curtain cord after he had been put down for his afternoon nap, an inquest heard. The child, whose name has been suppressed, was heard "babbling away" after his dad left him to rest. However, when his father went to check on his son shortly afterwards, he found the boy "in front of the curtain with a cord wrapped around the front of his neck".
The dad carried the toddler to his mother and they called the emergency services and started CPR. Paramedics arrived just five minutes later but the boy could not be revived. Heather McKenzie, the coroner in Christchurch, New Zealand, said: "(His) parents described him as their beautiful, cheeky, and sweet little buddy.
They are devastated and heartbroken to have lost him and also suffer seeing (their daughter) grieving for her brother. "They want to avoid the same thing happening to any other parent/family and believe that there should be better safety messages regarding blind cords." The tragedy happened on January 20 at the family home in Christchurch and, since then, the boy's parents have campaigned for better safety messages in the hope of preventing further deaths, the NZ Herald reported.
The coroner had heard the toddler's bed was away from the wall and he often got up from it himself if he woke before his parents came for him, sometimes hiding behind the curtain in between the blinds. The cord, used to pull the blind up and down, was around the front of the boy's neck, his dad told the inquest. Ms McKenzie continued: "(His father) thinks he closed the blind and curtain .
.. and the bedroom door was closed.
He heard (the child) 'babbling away' to himself as he usually does. "The cord was used to pull the blind up and down. Usually (the boy's mum) would remind (the dad) to put the blind up and wrap it high around the railing.
.. He (the dad) did not think (the boy) had ever played with the cord before.
Other than hiding behind the curtains, he had never been known to have jumped or played with them." In Australia , for instance, a mandatory standard applies to internal blinds, curtains and window fittings produced after 2010, but there are currently no similar mandatory safety guidelines in New Zealand. Ms McKenzie said that there were no recommendations she could make which would go further than those already made by coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale after the death of a 19-month old by accidental asphyxiation from a roman blind cord in 2018.
Speaking in Christchurch, the coroner continued: "It appears to me on the available evidence that (the boy) was playing in or otherwise near the blind, the cord became wrapped around the front of his neck, and he was unable to extricate himself. "I do not know how long he had been there before (his father) discovered him. In all of these circumstances, I find that (his) death was a tragic accident.
(The child) was a very much-loved son and brother. He is greatly missed.".
