Less than two years after a three-year-old girl died in a grease trap outside a US restaurant, another young child has died in almost exactly the same way.
The community of Rochester in upstate New York is today coming to grips with the tragic loss of a three-year-old boy who fell into a grease collection tank behind a fast-food restaurant on Monday morning.
The child was running outside a Tim Hortons restaurant when he fell through a plastic cover that had been covered by grass.
He was initially reported missing before he was located inside the trap and his body was recovered. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
“The lid was on there, it looks like the child ran across it and it popped open and he fell into the trap,” Rochester Police Investigator Francis Camp said.
“Our hearts go out to the family of this child for having to suffer this unimaginable tragedy.
“This is the worst call a police officer can respond to, but it’s nothing compared to what the family is going through.”
The young boy’s death is eerily similar to the death of three-year-old Sadie Grace Andrews who was playing outside an ice cream store in Auburn, Alabama, in October 2017 with her siblings when she fell into a grease trap and drowned.
The siblings were running around on grass that camouflaged the green lid of the Bruster’s Ice Cream store grease trap.
When Sadie wasn’t located, a search of area led family to the grease trap where her body was located.
Alabama politicians later passed legislation requiring more secure covers for all state restaurants.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a five-year-old girl was rescued after falling into a grease trap in March the following year.
— with AP
More to come.
